Coffee Prices Today, October 31st: Robusta Surges Past $4,600/Ton on Adverse Weather in Vietnam

Coffee prices continued to climb today, driven by significant concerns over adverse weather in Vietnam which could impact the Robusta coffee harvest. The new 2025-2026 crop season is just beginning, but prolonged heavy rain and flooding over the past several days have severely disrupted harvesting activities.

Global Coffee Market Update

At the close of trading on October 30th, futures prices on both major exchanges posted gains.

On the London exchange, Robusta futures continued to rise. The front-month November 2025 contract increased by 0.81% ($37/ton) from the previous session, settling at $4,622 per metric ton. The January 2026 contract also rose by 0.67% ($31/ton) to $4,641 per metric ton.

On the New York exchange, Arabica futures saw modest gains. The December 2025 contract climbed 0.33% (1.30 US cents/lb) from the prior day, closing at 392.00 US cents per pound. The March 2026 contract also increased by 0.39% (1.45 US cents/lb) to 372.25 US cents per pound.

Market Analysis

According to Reuters, U.S. roasters are heavily consuming inventories amid ongoing U.S.-Brazil trade negotiations, which could determine whether they will face much higher prices for alternative coffee sources.

Critically low inventory levels continue to provide strong support for the market. As of October 31st, ICE-monitored Arabica inventories have fallen to a 1.5-year low of 446,475 bags, while Robusta inventories have dropped to their lowest level in 3.25 months, standing at 6,111 lots.

Prices had recently been under pressure due to expectations of a potential trade agreement between the U.S. and Brazil, as well as the return of much-needed rain to Brazil, which improved farming conditions.

However, traders now report growing concerns about excessive rainfall in Vietnam, which could be detrimental to the Robusta harvest.

In-Depth: Harvest Crisis in Vietnam’s Central Highlands

According to Thanh Nien News, coffee is Vietnam’s highest-value agricultural export in 2025, with an estimated value of around $8.4 billion. The new 2025-2026 harvest season is currently underway; however, days of prolonged rain and flooding have severely impacted harvesting efforts.

Ms. Nguyen Thu Hien, from Buon Ho, Dak Lak, described the situation: “The coffee is ripe and red in the orchard, but the heavy, persistent rain is causing the cherries to become waterlogged, crack, and fall in large numbers. The beans are even being washed away, leading to significant losses. On top of that, the bad weather has caused the cost of hiring labor to pick the coffee to double or even triple.”

“Coffee prices have been good for the last few years, so every cherry that drops feels painful. On October 28th, my whole family took the day off to go to the farm and pick, but our plans were canceled by the heavy rain. On October 29th, the rain let up in the morning, so we all rushed to harvest. But we only got one or two hours in before the storm clouds returned, so we’ve barely made any progress,” Ms. Hien recounted.

According to Ms. Hien, the coffee price is better this year, but the prolonged, unusual rain makes her and many other farmers feel as if their money is being washed away. Furthermore, after the harvest comes the period for applying fertilizer and pesticides to nourish the trees for the next season. If heavy rain continues, it will wash all of that away and also create conditions for pests and diseases to thrive. Farmers are just praying for the rain to stop so they can safely get on with production.

Sharing the same concern, Mr. Ly Thong Ha, a resident of Di Linh (Lam Dong), lamented that he has never seen so much rain during the coffee harvest season. Normally, if the weather is favorable, farmers will fertilize and water the trees after the harvest to trigger flowering for the new season. But this year, the excessive rain has disrupted the entire growth and reproductive cycle of the plants. Ripe cherries on the trees haven’t even been picked, yet some trees are already flowering again (out of sync). When the current crop is harvested, these new flowers will be knocked off, harming the plant’s health. If they are left, the uneven flowering will lead to the development of “nhân lép” (small, shriveled, or undeveloped beans), which will impact the quality of the entire next season.

Other Origin News: Uganda

Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture announced that the country’s coffee exports in September surged by 59% compared to the same period last year, thanks to a bumper crop in several regions of the East African nation.

According to the report, Uganda, Africa’s largest coffee exporter, shipped 844,949 60-kg bags of coffee in September, compared to 532,212 bags in the same month last year. Coffee and gold are Uganda’s two largest foreign exchange earners. The Ministry of Agriculture forecasts that the country’s coffee production will increase by 15% in the new season that began this month.

“The increase in coffee export volume compared to the previous year is due to higher production, as the harvest season in the Central and Eastern regions has begun,” the report stated.

According to Ministry data, in the 12 months leading up to September, Uganda earned $2.2 billion from coffee exports, a 57% increase compared to the same period last year.