Coffee prices on the boil in Vietnam

Robusta coffee prices have risen to a record VND68,000 ($2.79) per kilogram, up 76% since the beginning of this year.

Prices have also been rising globally. On Monday rose by $10-39 per ton to $2,551-2,566 in London.

The prices of Arabica, another coffee variety, rose in New York by 0.45-0.95 cents per pound to $158-162. A kilogram equals 2.2 pounds.

Vu Duc Con, deputy director of the Dak Lak Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said one of the reasons for the rising prices is that the harvest season has yet to arrive while stocks from the previous season have mostly been sold.

He added that prices would be more reasonable in the next two months when the coffee crop ripens.

Hung, owner of a coffee factory in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, said farmers sold out their coffee stocks around a month ago.

He is not buying now since the high prices would hit his profit margin.

The Vietnam Coffee Cocoa Association has forecast coffee yields to drop by 10-15% in the 2022-2023 season to 1.47 million tons due to high heat.

In Dak Lak, authorities expect outputs to decline since farmers have been switching to growing other crops such as durian and avocado.

In the first eight months Vietnam’s average coffee export price reached a new peak of $3,054 per ton, up nearly 30% year-on-year.

The coffee was shipped to 38 markets, with the E.U. and U.S. being the largest buyers.