ASIA COFFEE-Typhoon Kalmaegi brings rains to Vietnam's coffee region, slowing harvest

By Phuong Nguyen and Mas Alina Arifin

HANOI, Nov 6 (Reuters) - A part of Vietnam's Central Highlands, the country's largest coffee-growing region, faces heavy rains from Thursday triggered by Typhoon Kalmaegi, disrupting the harvest that is already underway, traders said on Thursday.

Typhoon Kalmaegi, which has caused destruction in the Philippines, is expected to make landfall in Vietnam late on Thursday, bringing heavy rain to both coastal and Central Highlands provinces, the national weather agency said.

"It's already raining. Prolonged rains will stop farmers from picking beans, causing cherries to drop and potentially disrupting the drying process later," said a trader based in Dak Lak province, the heart of Vietnam's coffee-growing region and directly in the typhoon's path.

"In the worst case, strong winds could break branches and hurt the next crop," the trader added.

In the Central Highlands, farmers sold beans COFVN-DAK at 118,200 dong to 119,300 dong ($4.49 to $4.53), up from last week's range of 115,500 dong to 116,500 dong.

Robusta coffee LRCc2 for January delivery settled up $5, at $4,686 per metric ton on Wednesday.

Traders offered 5% black and broken-grade 2 robusta COFVN-G25-SAI at a discount of $50 per ton to the January LIFFE contract, compared with a $150 to $200 discount range a week earlier.

Vietnam exported 1.31 million metric tons of coffee over the January-October period, up 13.4% from a year earlier, government data showed on Thursday. Export revenues over the period rose 62% to $7.4 billion. In October, Vietnam exported 70,000 tons of coffee, a year-on-year increase of 54.7%.

In Indonesia, Sumatra robusta coffee beans were offered at a $90 discount to the December contract, compared with an $80 discount to the November-December contract.

Another trader quoted $130 discount to the January contract, widening from $100 discount rate a week ago.

Coffee farmers from West Lampung said the weather was good for the trees to grow.

($1 = 26,344.0000 dong)