HANOI: Vietnam’s coffee production this season is expected to be lower than the previous year due to bad weather, compounding a supply shortfall that’s sent global prices surging.
Output from the world’s biggest producer of the robusta variety is forecast at 26.5 million bags for 2024-25, said Nguyen Nam Hai, chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association, known as Vicofa. That’s lower than the group’s December estimate and compares with 27 million in 2023-24.
Global supplies have tightened following harvest problems in other key growers such as Brazil, with robusta futures in London soaring almost 70 per cent over the past year. For Vietnam, drought impacted the crop, Hai said in an interview at the Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival in Dak Lak province.
"We are facing a shortage of coffee this year because of the many weather events, strong events” in growing areas around the world, Vanúsia Nogueira, the executive director of the International Coffee Organisation, said in an interview. "We are very short on stocks.”
Vietnam’s 2024-25 harvest is in the final stages and beans will soon be developing for the next season. Coffee tree flowering "looks good” so far because there has been ample rain, Vicofa’s Hai said, which could be beneficial for future supply.
Robusta is typically used for instant drinks and espressos. - Bloomberg
