Vietnam's coffee market remained quiet at the beginning of the current harvest, while offers for new beans were available, traders said last week.Robusta grade 2, five per cent black and broken was quoted at $1,430-1,450 per tonne, FOB Saigon Port, unchanged from last week."There are a number of offers but buyers are not too interested as prices are high," said a coffee trader in Ho Chi Minh City, adding that some buyers had completed their purchases in Vietnam from the previous 1997/98 crop.Full harvesting of the new crop is expected to peak in early November and is scheduled to last until January.
The trader said the rainy season in southern Vietnam and the main coffee-growing province of Daklak was expected to last longer than normal this year.
Another trader said bean quality could be affected if rains in Daklak did not stop soon.
"The size of the new beans could be smaller and if the rainy season lasts too long and farmers would encounter problems with moisture," he said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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