According to a survey by reporter Tien Phong, domestic coffee prices have continued to increase sharply in recent days. The average price of domestic coffee on April 22 was purchased at 122,500 VND/kg.
In Dak Nong, coffee prices have increased to 124,000 VND/kg and are forecast to show no signs of cooling down. Just from the beginning of the year until now, the price of domestic coffee has nearly doubled, which is also a record price for this product ever.
Coffee prices rose to a record high, making exporters more worried than happy
According to the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association for the 2022 – 2023 coffee crop, Vietnam must import 200,000 tons of coffee due to domestic supply shortages. Coffee exports in the first half of April 2024 reached 80,781 tons, down 3.9% over the same period in 2023.
Along with coffee, pepper prices have increased unprecedentedly. In Dak Lak, pepper price on April 22 traded at 98,000 VND/kg, in Gia Lai it was 97,000 VND/kg. In the Southeast region, pepper price in Dong Nai is at 96,500 VND/kg, in Binh Phuoc is 98,000 VND/kg and in Ba Ria – Vung Tau is at 98,000 VND/kg. In the past week alone, pepper prices increased from 7,500 – 9,000 VND/kg, bringing the price close to the record mark, nearly 100,000 VND/kg.
Question of speculation?
Talking to Tien Phong reporter, Mr. Nguyen Nam Hai, Chairman of the Vietnam Coffee – Cocoa Association (Vicofa) said that the sharp increase in coffee prices, exceeding the record mark due to the influence of the El Nino phenomenon, should Coffee regions around the world are in a state of drought and crop failure. Particularly in Vietnam, in the 2023 – 2024 crop season (from October of the previous year to September of the following year), coffee output will decrease by about 10%.
Along with that, the continuous occurrence of military conflicts around the world, especially in the Red Sea region, has pushed up the price of transporting coffee to Europe – the world’s largest coffee consuming region. go to high place. In particular, in the international financial market, many investors tend to choose coffee (after oil and gold) for investment, causing coffee prices to increase sharply.
“Domestically, due to forecasts of future supply and demand affected by climate change, Vietnam’s coffee supply will be in short supply, so businesses, agents, and speculators have begun to hoard goods, pushing Coffee prices have increased,” Mr. Hai said.
Mr. Phan Minh Thong, Chairman of Phuc Sinh Group, said that the increase in coffee prices makes businesses unable to keep up, because signed contracts force businesses and foreign companies to still buy for delivery. Currently, for 1 ton of coffee, businesses have to suffer a loss of tens of millions of dong, while the number of contracts to deliver hundreds to thousands of tons.
According to Mr. Thong, the cause comes from hoarding goods. Large speculators withhold supply, causing most traders to be unable to return goods to businesses, leading to a “domino” effect that causes export businesses to be unable to pay signed orders, leading to losses, or having to pay deposits. .
For pepper, pepper prices in the first 4 months of the year still increased even when the harvest was taking place. The Vietnam Pepper and Spice Association (VPSA) said that the price increase is partly due to reduced supply and exchange rate fluctuations, but the main reason comes from speculation, leading to a sharp increase in pepper prices over time. via.
According to VPSA, pepper is often intercropped with coffee, so these two items are closely related in price. Normally, people will sell coffee when the price is high to prepare money to store pepper.
This year, coffee prices continued to skyrocket, people also held back pepper with the expectation that the price would increase as strongly as coffee, causing supply to stay low. Agents and some businesses are also hoarding goods, waiting for pepper prices to increase before selling, making the market even more scarce.
