* June shipment seen at 65,000-80,000 T
   * Stocks may thin to 2.75 mln bags in end-June
   * Vietnam robusta at premiums of $30-$40 to London's
September

(Recasts to add export quotations, stocks) 
   By Ho Binh Minh 
   HANOI, June 7 (Reuters) - Vietnam's coffee exports slowed
this week on thin stocks and falling prices in London markets
from recent peaks, and exports  this month could fall by up to a
third from May following strong loading earlier this year,
traders said on Tuesday.  

   June's coffee exports would drop to between 65,000 tonnes
and 80,000 tonnes, or 1.08 million to 1.33 million bags, from
110,000 tonnes in estimated shipments last month, traders said. 
   "High prices attracted a large volume of coffee earlier this
year and the remaining stocks are not high," a trader at a
European firm in Ho Chi Minh City said. 
   Coffee farmers in Vietnam, the world's largest robusta
producer and exporter, have invested more in the current crop as
domestic prices hit multi-year highs in the first quarter of
2011 on concern over tight global supply. 
   Vietnamese robusta prices, which closely track London
futures, then rose to a life-time high of 51.9 million dong
($2,522) a tonne on May 11 in the Central Highlands coffee belt,
up nearly 40 percent from the end of 2010.  
 
   The price rise has encouraged exporters to hasten their
domestic purchases and outbound shipments, having loaded 160,600
tonnes of coffee in March. The volume declined to 126,200 tonnes
in April and dropped further last month. 
   May coffee exports rose an estimated 10.6 percent from the
same month in 2010 to 110,000 tonnes, or 1.83 million bags,
exceeding market expectations, the government said on May 25. 
 
   Lower shipment volumes from Vietnam, along with an expected
fall in output in Indonesia, the world's second-biggest robusta
producer, could tighten supplies of the bitter variety in the
coming weeks. 
   Vietnam may enjoy high coffee prices in the second half of
the year despite higher domestic output in the world's top
robusta producer, as inclement crop weather in some growers and
a bad harvest in Indonesia triggers concerns about yields and
quality.   
   Domestic prices could rise to 55-60 million dong
($2,672-$2,915) a tonne in second-half 2011 on tight global
supplies, the Agriculture Ministry said last Wednesday. 
 
   "The people who still hold coffee in stock now have decided
to wait after they heard about the price forecast, thus trading
has slowed in the past week," a trader said from Buon Ma Thuot,
the capital of Vietnam's top coffee growing province of Daklak. 
    
   WIDENING PREMIUMS 
   He said private firms were seeking to buy beans at 49.5
million dong to 50 million dong a tonne on Tuesday, above the
buying price of 48 million dong offered by major exporters, but
overall sales have been slow. 
   Traders in Ho Chi Minh City said the loading volume this
month may come mainly from bonded warehouses, since exporters'
loading straight from domestic market purchases this month would
be insignificant due to slow sales. 
   Vietnamese coffee stocks available for sale at the end of
May were estimated at 150,000-245,000 tonnes, or 2.5 million to
4.08 million bags, traders said.   
   Taking the higher end of the forecasts and the estimated
shipment for this month, stocks could shrink to 165,000 tonnes,
or 2.75 million bags, by end-June. 
   Liffe September robusta coffee ended off $79 at
$2,449 on Monday, just above its low of $2,445, which was the
weakest level for the benchmark second month since late April,
following a steep setback in ICE arabica prices.   
   "Vietnam is in no rush to sell, when prices fall like this,"
another trader in Ho Chi Minh City said, referring to the drop
in London overnight. 
   Exporters stopped making quotations on Tuesday. Robusta
grade 2, 5 percent black and broken beans were last offered at
$30 to $40 a tonne above London's September contract. 
   The premiums put the beans at $2,479-$2,489 a tonne,
free-on-board Saigon Port, from $2,612-$2,632 a week ago when
exporters offered prices on par with London while buyers bid a
discount of $20 a tonne.      
($1=20,580 dong)    
 
(Reporting by Ho Binh Minh; Editing by John Ruwitch)  
 
   

Tuesday, 07 June 2011 11:40:51RTRS