The world's second-largest coffee producer exported 874,000 tonnes, or 14.57 million 60-kg bags, in the previous crop year between October 2005 and September 2006. The government's General Statistics Office reported that the shipment of the actual September revised down to 633,300 bags from a previous estimate of 670,000 bags.

Vietnam, the world's top producer of robusta beans, is delaying the start of its coffee harvest in the Central Highlands growing region until early next month because of prolonged rains, news that firmed London robusta futures prices in recent days.

State forecasters said on Saturday that showers were expected between Sunday and Nov. 7 in the Central Highlands region that produces up to 80 percent of Vietnam's coffee. Given the delay, traders said most of the beans shipped this month and in November would be from the previous harvest that ended in January.

Exporters would ship an estimated 833,300 bags of coffee this month, up 28 percent from last October, the government said. The estimate would bring the country's coffee export volume in the first 10 months of 2007 to 17 million bags, a rise of 42.6 percent from a year earlier, government statistics said.