| Vietnam Jan coffee loading up, prices at 30 mth high - RTRS |
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* Dec loading seen at up to 2.33 million bags * Prices at 30-month peak spur farmers to slow sales By Ho Binh Minh HANOI, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Coffee exports from Vietnam are picking up this month due to ample supply at the end of the harvest, but 30-month high prices this week have prompted farmers to slow their sales, traders said on Tuesday. Farmers ended the harvest in most of the Central Highlands coffee belt last week, about two weeks earlier than usual, to save on labour costs and to protect beans from thieves. Traders estimated coffee loading this month at 110,000 to 140,000 tonnes, near last month's level, while prices have jumped 7.7 percent in the past month to 37.6-37.8 million dong ($1,928-1,939) a tonne, the highest since July 3, 2008. Traders estimated coffee loading this month at 110,000 to 140,000 tonnes, near last month's level, while prices have jumped 7.7 percent in the past month to 37.6-37.8 million dong ($1,928-1,939) a tonne, the highest since July 3, 2008. Prices stood at 38 million dong a tonne in Daklak, Vietnam's key growing province, on July 3, 2008. "The export volume this month could rise as supported by higher prices and good supply," said a Vietnamese trader at a foreign company in Ho Chi Minh City. The loading estimates, equivalent to 1.83-2.33 million bags, is the first indication of the size of supply from the world's second-largest coffee producer, after Vietnam ended its harvest. Vietnam's December coffee exports dropped an estimated 10.3 percent from the same month in 2009 to 2.2 million bags, the government has said. [ID:nHAN139824] It exported 141,000 tonnes of coffee in January 2010, when the harvest ended. London second-month robusta coffee futures <LRCc2> ended 2010 up 57 percent year-on-year at $2,097 per tonne on Friday, from a close of $1,332 per tonne on December 31, 2009. VIETNAMESE PRICES UP 56.5 PCT Y/R IN 2010 Coffee prices in Vietnam, which closely track London, jumped 56.5 percent to 37.1 million dong per tonne on Dec. 31, 2010, from 23.7 million dong on Dec. 31, 2009. "Farmers are selling moderately as they hope prices could rise further," said a dealer in the central highland province of Lam Dong. The crop in Lam Dong, Vietnam's second-largest growing province after Daklak, has been fully harvested, the dealer said. Farmers were holding back on hopes prices could rise beyond 40 million dong a tonne, a record reached in 1995, he said. Prices then rose to 41 million dong a tonne in Daklak on March 7, 2008. Discounts to London March contract stood at $150-$155 a tonne this week, placing Vietnamese robusta grade 2, 5 percent black and broken at $1,942-$1,947 a tonne, free-on-board basis, up from $1,860-$1,870 a tonne last Tuesday. <COFFEE/ASIA1> Coffee is Vietnam's second-largest cash earner after rice among the country's exportable agricultural products. The government estimated the total coffee area rose 2 percent last year to 548,200 hectares (1.35 million acres). ($1=19,498 dong) (Editing by Ramthan Hussain) |