Domestic coffee prices at record high

New records have continuously been set in the prices of coffee in Central Highlands localities recently, now standing at over 90,000 VND (3.65 USD) per kilo.

On March 13, they ranged from 91,000-92,000 VND per kilo, which doubled those in the same period last year, and rose 30% over late 2023.

According to insiders, strong growth in exports has been a major factor leading to the domestic price hikes.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said that Vietnam exported 438,000 tonnes of coffee in the first two months of this year for 1.38 billion USD, a rise of 27.9% in volume and 85% in value over the same period last year.

In the first five months of the 2023-2024 coffee crop, Vietnam has shipped abroad 764,802 tonnes of coffee with a revenue of 2.36 billion USD, up 1.5% in volume and 39.4% in value compared to the same period of last crop.

Largest markets of Vietnamese coffee include Germany, Italy, Japan, and Spain.

Le Duc Huy, General Director of Simexco Daklak, said that the world's demand for Vietnamese Robusta coffee is high, while the domestic supply is lower than in previous years.

The Vietnam Coffee Cocoa Association (Vicofa) estimated that the coffee output in the 2024-2024 crop drops about 10% compared to the previous crop due to shrunken farming area, while inventories from the previous crop is at the lowest in many years and equivalent to one-third of that in the previous crop. This has led to a supply shortage, it said.

The MARD said that ICE-monitored Robusta coffee inventories as of the end of February continued to decline to a record low of 19,600 tonnes (326,667 sacks of 60 kilos), the lowest since 2014.

The International Coffee Organisation predicted that the coffee production of Indonesia will fall 16.6% in the 2023-2024 crop due to prolonged rains.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s coffee output in the 2024-2025 crop (from July 2024 to June 2025) is forecast to rise 4.2%.

Despite the high prices, experts warned farmers to carefully choose the appropriate time to sell their coffee as it is tough to give any forecast in coffee price fluctuations, which means coffee prices may continue to set new records or slump./.