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.