HANOI/BANDAR LAMPUNG, Indonesia (Reuters): Coffee trading in Vietnam has been slow in the past weeks, hit by low stocks, traders said on Thursday (March 23), while trading was muted in Indonesia due to a public holiday.
Farmers in the central highlands, Vietnam's largest coffee-growing area, sold beans at 46,000 dong to 48,500 dong (US$1.96 to $2.07) per kg, compared with last week's 46,300 dong to 47,400 dong range.
"There was not much trading in the market," said a trader based in the coffee belt.
"It's very hard to buy at the moment since both Indonesia and Vietnam do not have many beans to offer."
Another trader based in the same region said farmers had sold most of their stock and refrained from selling the remaining.
"Farmers are not really under pressure to sell now. Those who need urgent cash can generate it from selling peppers or fruits such as passion fruits or durian instead."
Traders in Vietnam offered 5% black and broken-grade 2 robusta at a discount range of $10-$20 per tonne to the May contract. The discount range was $0-$20 last week.
May robusta coffee settled down $18, or 1%, at $2,112 on Wednesday.
