Farmers dry coffee beans at a cooperative in Son La province.(Photo: VNA) As of the start of 2023, domestic coffee prices have risen byapproximately 20% since the end of 2022, reaching 48,000 VND per kg (equivalentto 2.05 USD per kg) and inching closer to the peak recorded in August of 2022.
This increase can be attributed to the upward momentum of coffeeprices in international markets, triggered by discouraging news concerningBrazil's coffee production.
After a decline in January, Vietnam's coffee exports soared inFebruary.
In the first two months of 2023, coffee exports only decreased 9.5%in value and 7.8% in volume.
The average export price during the period was 2,177 USD a tonne,down 1.9% on-year but up 1% compared to last December. Coffee export turnoveris estimated to continue to increase in March.
Some coffee exporters expect that demand for coffee beans in 2023will increase.
If Brazil's output is again hampered by unfavourable weather,coffee prices could peak from a year ago or possibly go higher. The majority ofthe supply of arabica coffee in Vietnam has currently been purchased.
On the other hand, the country's coffee output is forecast toslide.
In the crop year of 2022/23, coffee production is expected todecrease by 10-15% over last year to about 1.47 million tonnes, according tothe Vietnam Cocoa Coffee Association (Vicofa). Reduction in coffee growingareas as farmers switch to other, more effective crops such as durian, avocado,or intercropping in the garden was attributed to the fall in outputs.
Last year, Vietnam was the world's second-largest coffee exporter,with more than 1.78 million tonnes, worth over 4 billion USD and an averageprice of 2,293 USD per tonne.
However, Vicofa said that the country's coffee industry stillfaces many challenges in the balance of supply and demand, the prosperity ofcoffee growers, accountability, domestic consumption, climate change, and newregulations of other import countries.
On the stock market, the group of coffee businesses is mainlysmall-scale, and the stock price from the beginning of 2023 to now has beentraded flat and has low liquidity, such as the PCF of Petec Coffee JSC.
Some stocks haven't recorded any transactions in many months, likeTAN of Thuan An Coffee JSC, FGL of Gia Lai Coffee JSC, and CPA of Phuoc AnCoffee JSC.
A stock witnessing notable performances recently is CFV of ThangLoi Coffee JSC. It has recorded two long streaks of hitting the ceiling price,with the first occurring in 23 consecutive sessions from August 15, 2022, toSeptember 16, 2022.
During the period, the company's stocks surged from 4,300 VND ashare to 91,300 VND a share. However, the trading volume was small, with only100 units transferred in many sessions.
Thang Loi Coffee suspected some individuals manipulated its stockprices for personal motives, as it is unusual for stocks to continuouslyincrease to the ceiling with such a low trading volume.
The second time CFV continuously hit the ceiling price was fromFebruary 20 to March 9, equivalent to 14 consecutive sessions, pulling thestock price from 8,600 VND to 67,600 VND a share. Its liquidity increased froma few hundred units to 2,000 - 5,300 units per session.
This time, the company said that the continuous rallies in thestock price were due to the movements of the stock market and had no backgroundto explain.
In 2022, Thang Loi Coffee posted net revenue of nearly 450.7billion VND, an increase of 28% on-year, while profit after tax dipped 77.5% to1.3 billion VND. Notably, its operating profit was negative 1.2 billion VND,while in 2021, it gained more than 6 billion VND./.
VNA
