Vietnam coffe prices to climb on rain

HANOI (Commodity Online) : Vietnam coffee prices set to climb as continued rains disrupted pickings last week.
Rains started last Sunday and continued through Wednesday, hindering harvesting and drying that was already delayed by almost a month because of heavy showers, helping push global prices higher.
The harvesting has slowed down due to the rains, and farmers can’t dry the beans in this wet weather,” said Nguyen Van An, general director of Thai Hoa Production & Trading Corp., the country’s third-biggest exporter. “
Robusta-coffee futures in London have jumped 39 percent this year and advanced to a two-year high of $2,098 a metric ton on Nov. 9 as rains delayed the Vietnam harvest. The March- delivery contract, the most-active by open interest, traded at $1,793 a ton at 6:35 p.m. Singapore time.s
Harvesting in Dak Lak province, the country’s biggest growing region, was about 40 percent complete before the rains returned, Rains are expected to last for another day, Nguyen Dai Nguong, general director of the Dak Lak Hydrology and Meteorology Office, said.
Rainfall in Buon Ma Thuot, the capital of Dak Lak, totaled 250.4 millimeters between Nov. 1 and Nov. 20, compared with 89.4 millimeters in the same period last year, according to figures from the Dak Lak Hydrology and Meteorology Office.
Vietnam may produce 1.1 million tons of coffee this year, about 3 percent less than the previous year, according to an Oct. 29 forecast from the Vietnam Coffee & Cocoa Association.
Analysts and traders last month predicted an increase to 1.2 million tons. Officials in Dak Lak, Lam Dong and Gia Lai have all forecast production gains in their regions.