Vietnam sells 40% less new crop coffee

Nedcoffee forecasts that Vietnam, the world's largest robusta coffee grower, may sell less than 40% of its 2012-2013 harvest (which began on October 1) before Tet.

Low prices cause farmers to stockpile goods and sell only small amounts to cover costs.

According to Nedcoffee, in previous years, farmers typically sold about 50% of their coffee harvest before the Lunar New Year holiday began in February.

Coffee harvest. (Photo: Tran Le Lam/VNA)

However, since last year, this trend has changed as farmers have been given financial support to temporarily store their goods.

Nedcoffee said the weather was very favorable for harvesting and the coffee quality was better than last year although the bean size was slightly smaller.

Vietnamese farmers are now nearing the end of the 2012-2013 coffee crop and have only sold about 15%.

The US Department of Agriculture estimates that this year's coffee output will decrease by 1 million bags compared to the previous crop year to 25 million bags./.

According to (TTXVN) - VT