ASIA COFFEE-Vietnam prices rise despite slow trade ahead of holiday

By Phuong Nguyen and Mas Alina Arifin

HANOI, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Vietnam coffee prices inched up this week in line with a surge in London prices, although traders said that local trade was tepid ahead of the week-long Lunar New Year break.

Farmers in the Central Highlands, Vietnam's largest coffee-growing region, sold beans COFVN-DAK at 121,500-122,500 dong ($4.85-$4.89), compared to 115,600-116,300 dong last week.

LIFFE robusta coffee for March LRCc2 settled up $189 at $5,452 per metric ton, as of Wednesday's close.

"The surge in London was due to tight supplies both from Vietnam and Brazil," a trader based in the coffee belt said.

"Although Vietnamese farmers are selling, the amount is not much. They already cashed in from durian and other fruit trees for the holiday," he added.

Another trader said that trade was tepid ahead of the Lunar New Year, which spans from Jan. 25 to Feb. 2.

The Mercantile Exchange of Vietnam estimated that output this crop season was lower than the previous one but not as much as previously estimated.

In Indonesia, Sumatra robusta coffee beans offered at a $240-$250 discount for March contract, compared with last week's $50 discount, due to the price rally in the London terminal, traders said.

($1 = 25,040 dong)