Vietnam coffee output fell on rains, frost: US

Coffee production in Vietnam, the world's second-biggest grower after Brazil, declined 14 percent in the year ended September 30 because of heavy rainfall and frost, according to the US Foreign Agricultural Service.

Vietnam produced 18.3 million bags of coffee in the marketing year, down from 21.3 million bags in the previous year, agricultural specialists Nguyen Thi Huong and Tran Quoc Quan said in a report posted Thursday on the US Department of Agriculture website. Output for the current marketing year will be 21.5 million bags, unchanged from the agency's previous estimate, the specialists said. They cited an increase in the growing area, improved weather conditions and better yields for the increase from a year ago. A bag weighs 60 kilograms. In a separate report, Brazil's coffee crop for the year starting July 1 was projected at 51.1 million bags, unchanged from a June forecast. A crop of that size would be 36 percent bigger than the previous year. Colombia, the third-biggest coffee grower, is expected to produce 12.3 million bags in the marketing year that began October 1, or 1.1 percent less than a year ago, according to a third FAS report. Harvest delayed The coffee harvest in Vietnam may be hampered due to heavy rains, according to Cao Van Tu, director of the Dak Lak Province-based Ea Pok Coffee Co. “We can’t harvest the ripe beans,” Tu said Monday by phone from the Central Highlands province, the country’s biggest coffee producer and exporter. “I’m afraid we will not be able to have enough stock for delivery in December.” Delayed shipments may spur a rebound in the price of robusta beans, which has tumbled by a fifth over the past year. Rainfall in Dak Lak also disrupted harvesting and drying last week, Tu said. His staff had only a few sunny days to dry the crop and some workers were trying to collect as many ripe beans as possible in the rain, he said. “We’re sitting by the fire as it has been raining all the time,” said Tu. “Usually it doesn’t rain this much.” The rains would compound the problems faced by coffee traders, who are already battling high borrowing costs and a shortage of credit to fund coffee purchases, Tu said. Robusta for January delivery slipped US$16, or 0.9 percent, to $1,790 a ton on Liffe Thursday. Source: Bloomberg