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Vietnam considers suspending coffee exports
Vietnam is considering suspending coffee exports after world coffee prices plunged to the lowest in three years.
As the world’s second largest producer of robusta coffee beans, Vietnam’s earnings have been dented by the recent fall in coffee bean export prices. Robusta coffee beans were trading for US$1,245 a ton in London on Monday, half the price of early 2008.
Coffee farmers are only receiving about VND21,800 ($1.20) a kilogram for their beans.
Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association Chairman Luong Van Tu on Tuesday called on domestic coffee bean exporters to temporarily halt trade. The association is planning an emergency meeting to discuss the situation, Tu said.
Speculation in coffee beans is making global coffee bean prices difficult to predict, he said.
In London, coffee prices for beans for July delivery fell by as much as $92 a ton in the space of five days to reach $1,441 a ton on June 18.
The price slump meant Vietnamese coffee exporters were making a loss of VND1.2 million ($67.50) a ton, Tu said.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam exported 741,000 tons of coffee beans in the first six months this year to reap $1.1 billion, 12 percent less than in the first half of last year.
However, world coffee bean prices are expected to recover in the next three months because Brazil – the world’s biggest coffee producer – is reportedly facing a poor coffee harvest because of bad weather. The world’s coffee processors will also soon begin stockpiling coffee beans for next year.
vietnews
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