Viet Nam: Coffee Prices Rise 5 pct on Tighter Supplies

Coffee prices in Viet Nam, the world biggest exporter of robusta beans, rose nearly 5% in the past week on the back of thinning stocks and gains in London future prices, traders said on Tuesday.

In Buon Ma Thuot, the capital of Vietnam's top coffee growing province, Daklak, robusta beans were offered at 36,500 dong ($2.22) per kg, up 4.9% up from 34,800 dong last Tuesday and 33,000 dong two weeks ago.

"Most less better-off people have sold all their stocks and the beans remaining in the hand of rich farmers and speculators are not much and they are not in the hurry to sell, putting pressure on prices to go up further," a trader in Buon Ma Thuot said.

London's September robusta contract slid $24 to end at $2,336 per tonne on Monday, but was still $112 higher than on June 16, providing strong support to prices in Vietnam, traders said.

They said discounts to September contracts widened to $205 to $210 a tonne this week, from $170-$185 last week, meaning robusta grade 2,5% black and broken beans would be $2,126-$2,130 a tonne, free-on-board basis, from $2,030-$2,054 a tonne last week.

"The weakened dong versus the dollar is also a factor that have been driving up prices as some farmers demanded to use the black market exchange rates to calculate their sales," another trader in Buon Ma Thuot said.

The dollar rose to a record 19,000-19,400 dong last Friday on the black markets, up nearly 20% over the past three months and versus the official dong rate of around 16,450 to the dollar.

Concerns over the government's ability to cope with a record high trade deficit and double-digit inflation at 25.2% last month have been weighing on the dong.

Vietnam's trade deficit would more than triple to $16.9 billion in the first half of this year, a state newspaper reported on Monday. (Reuters)