Robusta Coffee Gains to Eight-Month High on Vietnam Sales

21/05/2012
 
Robusta Coffee Gains to Eight-Month High on Vietnam Sales
BLOOMBERG (USA)
 
Robusta coffee climbed to the highest price in more than eight months as sales in Vietnam slowed, sending local prices to the highest since October.

Sales of beans in Vietnam, the largest grower of robusta beans, slowed as farmers’ stockpiles became “thinner,” Volcafe, the coffee unit of commodities trader ED&F Man Holdings Ltd., said in a report e-mailed today. Vietnamese beans reached 42,000 dong ($2.02) a kilogram (2.2 pounds) yesterday, the highest price since Oct. 18, data from the Dak Lak Trade & Tourism Center on Bloomberg show. The price eased to 41,800 dong today.

Robusta coffee has climbed 23 percent so far this year as demand increases, especially in emerging markets. Global coffee demand will rise by about 2 percent in 2011-12, according to London-based broker Marex Spectron Group. All of the growth will come from robusta beans, the broker said.

The “rising demand trend in robusta has significantly tightened the global robusta market, quickly absorbing much of the large Vietnam crop, and leading to falling European stocks,” Kona Haque, an analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd. in London, said in a report e-mailed yesterday.

Robusta coffee for July delivery was up 1.8 percent to $2,226 a metric ton by 4:07 p.m. on NYSE Liffe in London. The price touched $2,235 earlier today, the highest since Sept. 5. A Bloomberg Survey published on March 26 predicted prices would reach $2,236 a ton by the end of May.

Roasters may be tapping beans stockpiled in Europe as Vietnam exports drop. Inventories with valid certificates in warehouses monitored by NYSE Liffe were 171,380 tons as of May 14, down 0.7 percent from 172,530 tons two weeks earlier, the exchange said yesterday. Stockpiles have been falling since reaching an all-time high of 417,420 tons on July 11.

Cheaper Option
“Right now robusta still provides a cheaper option for roasters’ blends, as they try to capture emerging market customers as well as cater to the lower-end segment at the traditional markets,” Haque said. “The tighter fundamentals for robusta will continue to support London futures.”

Robusta coffee for July delivery was $32 a ton higher than beans for September delivery, up from $25 yesterday, data on Bloomberg show. That market structure is known as backwardation and may signal limited supplies.