Vietnam , the world's second-largest coffee exporter after Brazil , shipped 181,500 tonnes of coffee last January at the end of the harvest, the second highest volume after a record 244,000 tonnes loaded in January 2007.

   But with an average export price last year rising nearly 30 percent to $2,012 a tonne, free-on-board basis, farmers were not under financial pressure to sell to cover expenses before Tet, or the Lunar New Year festival, from Jan. 24 to 29 this year.

   Prices for a kilogram of robusta beans were quoted at 25,300-25,700 dong ($1.49-$1.51) in the Central Highlands on Tuesday, against 25,500-25,700 dong a week ago.

   Traders have said Vietnamese farmers could accelerate sales only if domestic prices reached 30,000 dong per kg, a level last seen in late September before the harvest started.

    Discounts for robusta grade 2, 5 percent black and broken were quoted at $140 a tonne to London 's March contract <LRCH9>, from $145 last week, pricing the beans for spot shipment at $1,520 per tonne, free-on-board Saigon Port. <COFFEE/ ASIA 1>

   There were no data yet for coffee exports so far this month and the government's statistics agency is expected to release the figure only in early February because the week-long holiday ends on Jan. 29.

   But traders said January's shipments were much lower than the figure a year ago. December coffee exports rose to an estimated 130,000 tonnes in 2008 from 110,000 tonnes a year earlier, government statistics showed.

   Vietnam has ended picking an estimated 1.2 million tonnes, or 20 million 60-kg bags, of coffee from the 2008/2009 crop harvest, from 1 million tonnes in the previous season, traders said.

   The country's coffee crop year lasts from October to September, starting with a four-month harvest.

   After Tet, domestic sales often rise because farmers need cash to buy fertiliser and fuel for their next crop cycle production between February and early May. ($1=16,973 dong)