* Rains stopped in the coffee region 
    * Domestic prices far above production cost 
     
    By Ho Binh Minh 
    HANOI, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Vietnam's coffee harvest, which 
has been delayed by wet weather so far this month, will 
accelerate in a week as rains come to an end in the Central 
Highlands coffee belt, residents and traders said on Tuesday. 
    Rains stopped in Daklak, Vietnam's largest coffee growing 
province, on Monday but the province remained cloudy on 
Tuesday, a resident said from Buon Ma Thuot city, Daklak's 
capital. 

    "The sky remains cloudy and the sun has yet to come out 
fully so farmers have not been able to dry cherries properly," 
she said by phone. Rains also slowed the cherry ripening 
process. 
    Along with Daklak, provinces of Dak Nong and Kontum are 
forecast to have no rains through Thursday, Gia Lai would 
mostly remain dry while showers were expected every day in Lam 
Dong, the national weather centre said in its three-day 
weather forecast. 
    Lam Dong ranks second in coffee production after Daklak, 
followed by Gia Lai, Dak Nong and Kontum in the Central 
Highlands region.  
       Concerns over supply problems caused by rains in Vietnam, 
the world's second-largest producer after Brazil, have eased 
as the wet season is ending this month.     
    Liffe January robusta futures  lost $62 to end at 
$1,848 per tonne on Monday on better outlook for Vietnam's 
harvest 
    Tracking London's falls, robusta beans in Daklak dropped 
to 34.1-34.2 million dong ($1,750) per tonne on Tuesday, from 
35.2 million dong on Monday but still on par with a week ago. 
         
    PRICES UP YEAR-TO-DATE     
    Domestic coffee prices have softened 4 percent from the 
25-month high of 35.6 million dong reached on Nov. 10, but 
have jumped 47.8 percent so far this year and are about 70 
percent above farmer's production cost. 
    Farmers and exporters in Daklak said prices could soften 
when supplies become ample next month at peak harvest.     
    The price increase has prompted several growers in Lam 
Dong province to quicken their pace of harvesting green 
cherries to prevent looting, a state-run newspaper reported on 
Tuesday.     
    "Many processing facilities also rushed in to buy green 
coffee from farmers," Director Le Quang Dao of Thai Hoa Co 
based in Lam Dong province was quoted by the Rural Today 
newspaper as saying. 
    He said picking green cherries meant an output loss of 20 
percent to 30 percent. Green cherries going through splitters 
will raise the ratio of broken beans, which -- based on export 
standards -- is considered a defect. 
    Discounts quoted by exporters widened to $130-$140 a tonne 
to London's January contract, from $120-$130 last week. 
    Robusta grade two, 5 percent black and broken, eased to 
$1,708-$1,718 a tonne, free-on-board basis, from $1,742-$1,782 
last Tuesday.       
    "Buyers are not interested to strike a deal now," a trader 
in Ho Chi Minh City said, adding that foreign buyers were 
waiting to see how prices move when the harvest peaks. 
 ($1=19,490 dong) 
 (Editing by Himani Sarkar)  
 
    

Tuesday, 23 November 2010 14:57:48