Asia's coffee export markets were dull this week in typical year-end trade with few orders clinched while Vietnamese farmers were reluctant to sell beans on fears of supply shortage. Heavy rains over the past few weeks in Vietnam's main coffee belt in Central Highlands are likely to hurt supply and quality of coffee in the world's biggest robusta producer, traders said.

Rain has stopped this week, but cloudy weather and humidity impeded the drying process, they said, adding that farmers held on to inventories on fears supply would fall short and as prices have not risen significantly. "Farmers are complaining so much about crop failure, so we could not buy from them or commit to any offers from overseas," said Le Duc Huy, deputy general director of Simexco, a leading exporter in Daklak, Vietnam's largest growing province. Traders quoted Robusta grade 2, 5 pct black and broken at discounts of $60 a tonne to the ICE March contract, compared with $60-$70 a tonne a week ago, while domestic prices ranged from 43,500-44,000 dong ($1.91-$1.93) per kg.

"Many foreign importers and banks are on holiday, so trade is dull while locally the market is also not very upbeat with only those who expect prices to pick up buying to reserve stocks in advance," said independent analyst Nguyen Quang Binh. In Indonesia, exporters' warehouses are closed through January 9 next year for holidays.

Copyright Reuters, 2017