Hanoi, Oct 15 - Vietnam coffee prices fell more than 6 percent in the past week on the prospect of copious supply from what market participants expect to be a jumbo harvest that is due to start in about 10 days, traders said on Tuesday.
They said some farmers have begun picking the cherries early and small quantity of fresh beans have hit the market in Daklak, Vietnam's top coffee-growing province.
"We are very satisfied with the quality of the beans from the harvest so far," a trader in Buon Ma Thuot, the capital of Daklak told Reuters.
"Supply of fresh beans will be quite abundant by the beginning of next month," another trader in Buon Ma Thuot said.
Vietnamese coffee growers have said they would start harvesting from the third week of October and shorten the process to end in December instead of January to cut back on rising labour cost.
Output is expected to increase 19 percent to 21.5 million bags.
Coffee prices in Buon Ma Thuot this week dropped more than 6 percent to just 25,700 dong-26,000 ($1.56-$1.57) per kg, compared to around 27,500 dong per kg last Monday and a range of 31,000-32,500 dong two weeks ago.
The discount to London's January contract <LKDF9> narrowed to around $150-$160 a tonne from a range of $160-180 last week, traders said.
Quotations for Vietnamese grade 2, 5-percent black and broken robusta beans eased to $1,660 a tonne, free-on-board basis, from $1,680 a tonne last week and about $1,870-$1,880 two weeks ago
The harvest in the Central Highlands coffee belt usually starts in late October and runs until January. ($1=16,517 dong)