Europe trade slows but Indonesian robusta rises

Physical robusta coffee trade in Europe has begun to decrease during the summer holiday. However, traders said that flows of Indonesian robusta coffee have strengthened after a futures rally and a late start to harvest, as announced by Business Recorder.

Since cash trade slowed in Europe and a number of factories were set to shut for a few weeks during the peak holiday, robusta differentials have risen. Dealers quoted Indonesian 80-defects $70 over November futures, compared with a discount of $10 for Vietnamese grade 2, Business Recorder reported.

As some roasters prefer mixing different origins of robusta to relying on just one producer, “people are willing to sell at these levels”, a senior European coffee trader said. ”It has taken longer for Indonesian coffee to flow, but it is starting to flow now”, he added.

This year, flows of new Indonesian crop robusta to the export had a difficult start due to a delay in harvesting after a prolonged dry weather period. Dealers said that supplies of Brazilian robusta or conillon were tight because of a very poor harvest, new crop conillon mostly being used in the domestic Brazilian market. Over November futures, dealers quoted conillon at $350 per tonne.