(Nov 6): Typhoon Kalmaegi battered the Vietnamese coast with tree-snapping winds and heavy rain, likely damaging crops across the nation’s key coffee-growing region.
The powerful storm made landfall near Dak Lak and Gia Lai provinces around 7pm local time on Thursday, according to the Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Administration. The deadly typhoon has already left a trail of destruction across the Philippines.
Kalmaegi’s started dissipating quickly after leaving the warm waters of the South China Sea and making landfall, according to the Vietnam forecast agency and the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center, but the storm is still packing destructive winds and rainfall. Maximum sustained winds are 149km per hour, the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale.
Vietnam’s coffee farmers started harvesting their crop last month, and a deluge of rain across the Central Highlands will probably damage plants and affect bean quality. The world’s biggest producer of robusta — the variety used in instant coffee and espresso — was on track for its best crop in four years.
“Strong winds could topple coffee trees and heavy rain may cause the cherries to fall,” said Nguyen Ngoc Khai, a weather official at the hydro-meteorology department of Dak Lak — Vietnam’s largest growing region. Some areas in the province could see as much as 400mm (16 inches) of rain.
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Even modest losses “could reignite bullish momentum in coffee futures and reinforce concerns about supply stability”, said Darren Stetzel, senior vice president of Asia agriculture at StoneX. Robusta futures in London rallied on Monday due to jitters about the impact of the incoming storm.
Philippines disaster
Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr declared a state of national calamity following Kalmaegi’s destructive path across the country, which is bracing for another strong typhoon early next week. The declaration allows quicker access to emergency funds, Marcos told reporters on Thursday.
See also: Typhoon deaths climb in Philippines as it braces for new storm
The storm has led to at least 151 deaths in the Philippines, with 127 still missing, according to disaster response agencies and local governments. The system dumped a month’s worth of rain in just a day in Cebu, maintaining typhoon strength as it moved into the South China Sea toward Vietnam.
Vietnam has been hit by 12 major storms so far this year, which have left at least 241 dead and cost the economy more than 53.8 trillion dong (US$2 billion). The area from the tourist hub of Danang to Dak Lak province could get as much as 600mm of rain from Kalmaegi through Friday, according to the Vietnamese weather bureau.
Authorities are preparing to suspend operations at five airports in the country’s central provinces on Thursday afternoon, according to a statement from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam. Vietnamese airlines have cancelled flights or adjusted schedules, online news site VnExpress said.
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