* Oct 10-Feb 11 coffee loading up 5 pct y/y
* Jan loading revised up to 145,300 tonnes
* Around 4 mln bags are left for sales
Vietnam's February coffee exports rose around 16.9 percent from the same month in 2010 to 90,000 tonnes, or 1.5 million bags, in line with market expectations, and could offer some relief to tight markets.
The country's coffee shipments last month were revised up to 145,300 tonnes, or 2.42 million bags, an increase of 3 percent from January 2010, the General Statistics Office said on Friday. It had previously estimated January shipments to be 140,000 tonnes.
Coffee exports between October 2010 and February, the first five months of the 2010/2011 season, were estimated to reach 8.75 million bags, up 5 percent from 8.33 million 60-kg bags shipped a year ago, the office said.
Higher exports from Vietnam could help relieve concerns over robusta supply after Vietnam's rival producer Indonesia said its 2011 crop could drop 30 percent from an estimated 600,000 tonnes last year as rains damage cherries. [ID:nL3E7DO0J9]
Traders had forecast coffee exports this month at between 80,000 and 90,000 tonnes. [ID:nHAN535950]
The coffee crop year in Vietnam, the world's second-largest producer after Brazil and ranks the largest in robusta production, lasts between October and September.
The government estimated the coffee export revenues in January and February soared 47 percent from a year ago to $462.8 million, suggesting an average price of $1,967 a tonne, from $1,414 in the first two months of 2010.
Coffee is the country's second-largest agro-product export item in terms of value, after rice.
Roasters and funds have switched to buying robusta in recent months as washed arabica beans remain in short supply.
Liffe May robusta coffee <LRCc2> ended down $39 at $2,329 a tonne on Thursday, after rising to the highest levels in nearly three years earlier this week. [ID:nLDE71N2DW]
FARMERS HOLDING BACK SALES
A trader in Daklak, Vietnam's key coffee growing province, said this week exporters and foreign traders were keeping 400,000 tonnes, or 6.67 million bags, in warehouses for loading.
It was not clear how much of the exporters' current stock could be used for sales, apart from the beans already committed for loading.
But excluding foreign buyers' and exporters' stocks, Vietnam may still have nearly 4 million bags for sales, based on a median output forecast of 18.3 million tonnes in a Reuters poll on Jan. 27.
Robusta prices in Vietnam hovered near record highs earlier this week, with farmers continuing to hold on to remaining thin stocks on hopes of further gains, traders said.
Adapted from https://portal.hpd.global.reuters.com/site/applist.aspx
