Hamburg, Nov 3 - Europe's physical coffee market was fairly active this week in a range of origins and there was also market talk of a large purchase by Swiss industry giant Nestle , traders said on Friday.
Nestle was said to have bought about 100,000 tonnes of Vietnamese robusta in a tender for delivery between November 2006 and October 2007.
Nestle had also held a similar tender in the previous week but was thought to have rejected bids.
"They returned to the market this week despite the current high level of robusta prices," one trader said. "I think they have such a large requirement that they could not wait until Vietnam's harvest - which is coming onto the market rather slowly this season -- gets into full swing."
Nestle does not comment on market talk.
But otherwise European buying of Vietnamese beans was limited because the country's new crop is still not being offered in large volumes, although European purchase interest is large.
"Industry was looking for cheap alternatives to Brazilian beans this week, and they meant cheap," one trader said. "If you had cheap but reasonable quality supplies from Africa you could find ready buyers."
"There was also European buying interest in U.S. certified stocks."
Another trader added: "With London and New York prices so high this caused a weakening of some differentials which did generate attractive opportunities this week."
"I did see a good volume of coffee being booked by European roasters this week on differentials."
"The high international markets also mean that sales offers from origin were also made in good volumes."
Origins included Africa, especially Ethiopia and Uganda.
"There was also good European purchase interest in Brazilian beans but the Brazilians did not play ball and declined to make a substantial differential cut, so I do not think much business was done," a trader said.
Reports of possible problems with Brazilian coffee plantings is making Brazilian exporters very cautious and they were demanding high prices.
But purchase inquiries from roasters showed a supply requirement among European industry, largely for January to June 2007, a trader said.
Trade was noted in Colombian beans with deliveries ranging from nearby to mid-2007 deliveries.