Vietnamese farmers face a very headache: there are no coffee beans in the coffee fruit!

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Vietnamese farmers face a very headache: there are no coffee beans in the coffee fruit.

Vietnam is the world's largest producer of robusta coffee, and there is a problem that there are no beans or unusually small beans in the harvested coffee fruit in several domestic producing areas. Simexco Daklak, the country's second-largest coffee exporter, says hollow coffee fruits are most common in the northern province of Calais, which usually accounts for about 15 per cent of Vietnam's coffee bean output.

Hong Letian, general manager of Simexco Daklak, said that the heavy rain in Calais province for several weeks made it impossible for the roots to absorb nutrients. Chen Chunkai, an agricultural official in Calais Province, pointed out that it has been raining continuously for three months since July, and farmers do not apply enough fertilizer, which may be the main reason for the production of hollow coffee fruits or smaller coffee beans.

Although Nguyen Nanhai, vice president of the Vietnamese Coffee-Cocoa Association, said it was a "small" problem, these anomalies have overshadowed the outlook for a bumper coffee harvest in Vietnam, and several coffee and bean producers have revised down their production forecasts. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected Vietnam to produce 1.83 million tons of coffee, or 30.5 million bags, this season, but exporters are worried that actual production may fall short of the target of 30 million bags.

However, the lower-than-expected harvest is good news for coffee bean prices. Robusta coffee futures have fallen more than 10 per cent from their May peak.