Coffee trade active on Indonesia fears

Coffee trade active on Indonesia fears

HANOI (Reuters): Trade in Vietnamese coffee picked up amid high prices in the past two days as buyers, nervous about widespread rioting in Jakarta, sought to buy from alternative sources, dealers and exporters said yesterday.

The price of robusta benchmark grade 2, five percent black and broken was quoted at between $1,920 to $1,940 per ton,

One foreign trader told Reuters that some deals had been closed at $1,900 a ton early yesterday.

"Many buyers bought a lot of coffee this week in Vietnam," said an international trader from southern Ho Chi Minh City. "Buyers are afraid of what is happening in Indonesia so they would rather buy from here," he said.

London July robusta futures were pushed to an 11-month peak of $1,998 per ton on Thursday by the Indonesian riots. The benchmark contract eventually ended at $1,980.

Early on Thursday, Vietnamese coffee quotations were put at $1,860 a ton.

Along with high quotations on an FOB basis, domestic prices stood at around 24 million dong ($1,848), traders said.