Vietnam Coffee Trade Slows as Buyers Bet on Bigger Discounts

Roasters delay buying on bigger crop; ICE contact changes near
New robusta contract rules risk reducing ICE stockpiles: Sopex

Coffee beans sit in a container at a PT Taman Delta Indonesia facility in Semarang, Java, Indonesia, on Thursday, March 12, 2015. Smaller crops in Vietnam, Brazil and Indonesia may push up London futures by 19 percent to $2,300 a ton in the second quarter, a level last seen in 2011, according to Rabobank International.
Photographer: Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg

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By Isis Almeida

December 15, 2017 at 12:01 AM UTC

Updated on

December 15, 2017 at 11:11 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Coffee trading is slowing in Vietnam, the top robusta producer, on expectations that a larger harvest and changes to the London futures contract next year will give buyers bigger discounts.

Roasters and traders are delaying purchases on bets that a bigger crop currently being gathered will push prices lower, according to traders attending the Asia International Coffee Conference in Ho Chi Minh City last week. At the same time, changes to ICE Futures Europe’s robusta contract next July are expected to widen the discount of Vietnamese beans versus futures.