Export prices for Robusta coffee will rise to more than $2,000 per tonne in the next months, according to the country’s Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa).
At a recent meeting of the organisation in HCM City, Vicofa ascribed its projection to a variety of factors including stronger demand, bad climate conditions and lower supplies by major coffee growers such as Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia and Venezuela.
According to Vicofa’s vice chair Do Ha Nam, global coffee demand remains huge and has risen steadily in recent years while most coffee growing countries have been grappling with droughts this year, which will certainly affect yields.
In the 2013-2014 crop, according to Vicofa statistics, local farmers have harvested nothing from 5,000 hectares under coffee cultivation while another 40,000 hectares has been badly affected by diseases.
Meanwhile, the current dry season has also hit the Central Highlands region hard.
This largest coffee growing area of the nation will be crippled by a water undersupply in the second half of this month, with both yield and quality in the crop 2014-2015 to be partially affected.
“If global coffee demand edges up while coffee growing nations face lower yields due to little rain, coffee prices will inevitably nudge up,” Nam explained.
Vicofa has also attributed the possible Robusta price spike to the current considerable gap between the price of Robusta beans (over $2,000 a tonne) and that of Arabica beans (US$4,300 a tonne), which has led coffee processors to switch to using Robusta beans in droves.
Brazil is now the top Arabica coffee exporter while Vietnam takes the lead in global Robusta supply.
Last Friday, coffee sold for VND41,000-41,800 per kilo in the Central Highlands, up VND300-400 per kilo against the previous day.
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