Vicofa revises estimate of Vietnam coffee output

Vicofa revises estimate of Vietnam coffee output

HANOI (Reuters): The Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa) on Friday raised its estimate of Vietnam's 2000/01 output to more than 700,000 tonnes of beans from a previous 680,000 tonnes.

The industry body's latest estimate was close to a forecast from the Agriculture Ministry last October, which put the crop at around 700,000 tonnes.

A Vicofa statement obtained by Reuters gave no reason for the revision but said harvesting of the 2000/2001 crop was nearing its end.

Traders have estimated output at 760,000 tonnes.

The statement said falling world prices had resulted in losses for Vietnamese growers, who had sold their beans at an average FOB price of $470 a ton in October-December, 46.7 percent lower than in the corresponding period of the previous crop year.

Vietnam's coffee year runs from October through September while harvesting normally lasts from October to January.

Vicofa said the average selling price in January and February this year was around $440-$460 a ton FOB and that the selling price late last year was up to $350 below production costs.

On Friday the government's General Statistic Office (GSO) estimated coffee export value in the January-February period this year dropped 39.2 percent year-on-year to $83 million despite a volume rise of 17.3 percent to 176,000 tonnes.

Irrigation work accounts for a large part of production costs because the key plantation areas are located in the region which faces a six-month dry season, the statement said.

More than 80 percent of Vietnam's coffee is grown in the central highlands.

The country exported an estimate 377,000 tonnes during the first five months of the 2000/01 crop year, up 8.0 percent from the same period in the previous crop year, the GSO said.

Vietnam, the world's biggest exporter of robusta, which is widely used in the production of soluble coffee, shipped 692,000 tons in the 1999/00 crop year.