"The market is totally quiet, I don't expect any change in the downward price trend until at least July," said an international trader.

Dealers said stock from the previous harvest was dwindling while overall quality was falling, with a greater percentage of black beans.

Traders have said seasonal rains in Vietnam's key coffee producing province of Daklak had been good for the current 1999/2000 crop, but the rains had also added moisture to stocks remaining from the previous harvest.

It is unknown how much coffee remains from the last 1998/99 crop, but traders said last week some 40,000-50,000 tonnes was available.

Vietnam's robusta grade two coffee, five per cent black and broken, was offered at $1,170-$1,180 a tonne, FOB Saigon Port, against last week's level of $1,180-$1,200.

Buyers said they were willing to pay around $1,160 atonne.

The majority of offers had been for eight per cent black and broken grade, one exporter said, adding that quotations had been put at $1,150-1,160 per tonne.

Few deals were reported, but traders said new contracts in the past week had only covered minor amounts of coffee.

Differentials under London were currently put at around $200 to $215, one trader said.

London active September futures closed $14 lower at $1,385 on Thursday.

A coffee trader in Daklak expected that the province's current crop would produce higher yields than the 1998/99 harvest, thanks to better weather conditions.

"Cherries are much bigger and the coming harvest looks quite promising," he said.

The 1999/2000 harvest is due to start in October and normally lasts until January.

The official General Statistics Office estimated Vietnam exported 217,000 tonnes of coffee in the first half of 1999, up 10.2 per cent over the same period last year. The office estimated that 30,000 tonnes of coffee would be exported inJune.

Vietnam, one of the world's top robusta exporters, plans to ship 380,000 tonnes of coffee this year, up from 379,000 tonnes in 1998.