Vietnam's coffee shipments to jump in March-traders

* March shipments may rise by a third from February

* London robusta futures hit three-year high

Vietnam, the world's top robusta producer, could ship between 110,000 and 130,000 tonnes of coffee this month, or 1.83 million to 2.2 million bags, up from an estimated 90,000 tonnes last month, traders said on Tuesday.

Higher loading could bring some relief to traders who have expressed concern over deliveries because farmers held back beans as domestic prices rose. [London robusta futures hit a three-year high on Monday.

Loading in February was relatively low because of Tet, Vietnam's Lunar New Year festival. All markets were closed for about a week during the 28-day month.

In March 2010 coffee shipments from Vietnam, the world's second-biggest producer after Brazil, totalled 123,000 tonnes, government statistics show.

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"Due to high prices, farmers haven't sold much (to exporters), so loading this month may still be short of expectations," said a trader at a foreign company buying coffee in Ho Chi Minh City.

Coffee prices in Vietnam closely track the London robusta futures market, where the May contract ended up $13 at $2,403 a tonne on Monday after touching a three-year high of $2,429, driven by a surge in arabica prices.
 

Traders said delays to shipments might occur if exporters failed to buy on domestic markets, especially with smaller exporters chasing new deals to secure higher prices than they agreed early this year.
 

Vietnam has more than 150 coffee exporters, but only 20 of them are large establishments with experience and some track record in the world market. They account for 80 percent of the country's total exports.
 

Exporters offered to buy robusta at between 45.7-46 million dong ($2,190-$2,205) per tonne on Tuesday in the key growing province of Daklak, a rise of nearly a quarter from the end of 2010.
 

Last Tuesday prices reached an all-time high of 46 million dong per tonne in Daklak