Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui

Coffee prices in Vietnam, the largest producer of the robusta variety used in instant drinks and espresso, fell to the lowest level in more than two weeks on stockpile sales with the start of the new season.

Robusta sellers in top producer Vietnam jacked up premiums to offset declines in London futures, while beans from the new harvest in Indonesia began entering the physical market and were snapped up by roasters, dealers said on Friday.

Coffee beans from Vietnam, the world's largest producer of the robusta variety, are trading at a premium to the price in London after futures fell and farmers delayed sales, three traders said.

Coffee production from Vietnam's main growing province may jump 10 percent this season as bean quality climbs, producers and the government said, bolstering forecasts that a record nationwide crop will swell global robusta supplies.

Vietnamese law firm Bross & Partners has discovered that the Buon Ma Thuot coffee brand has been patented by a Chinese company for 10 years.

HANOI - The Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has increased its export forecasts for several key agricultural staples in its latest market report.

Hanoi - The coffee crop in Vietnam may be reduced in 2010-2011 after dry weather during the growing season cut the size of beans in the world’s biggest producer of the robusta variety, said three industry executives.

Coffee production in Vietnam, the largest robusta grower, may climb this year after favorable weather and expanded planting boosted the harvest, potentially easing a global shortage that’s driven prices to a two-year high.

Hanoi - Coffee production from Dak Lak in Vietnam, the principal growing region in the world’s largest robusta producer, may increase 5.3 percent after good weather aided flowering, according to the local government.

the world’s second-largest rice exporter and second-biggest producer of robusta coffee, aims to maintain its current export volumes of both commodities during the next decade, the country’s minister of agriculture and rural development said.

HANOI - Vietnamese coffee farmers have slowed or halted sales in recent days, waiting for exporters to execute a government-backed stockpiling plan despite some gains in international prices, traders said on Tuesday.

Over 250,000 hectares among 500,000 hectares of current coffee plantation area in Vietnam need to be improved in next 5-10 years. Otherwise Vietnam could lose its position to Indonesia in terms of coffee export, International Coffee Organisation (ICO)'s chair Nestor Osorio warned.

Robusta coffee fell on speculation the crop in Vietnam, the world's biggest grower of the beans, will provide a buffer as a tropical storm warning was called for New Orleans, home of almost a fifth of arabica bean stockpiles.

The coffee harvest in Vietnam, the world’s second-largest producer, has been aided by rain this month, which helped fruit production.