Officials from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development gave no precise figure for last year's crop output but previous statistics have put production at 220,000 tonnes.

The officials, speaking to Reuters in the provincial capital Buon Ma Thuot, blamed drought earlier this year for the estimated fall in production for the 1998/99 crop, which is expected to be harvested until January.

"The quality of this year's crop is worse than usual because the beans are small and some beans are loose in their husks," said Nguyen Duc Luyen, chief of the department's cultivation division.

"At this stage we think a reasonable figure for losses will be 60,000 tonnes," he added.

Daklak accounts for more than 60 percent of Vietnam's coffee output and has been the main force behind the country'semergence as a key world exporter of robusta beans.

However, in a interview late on Monday, top coffee researcher Phan Quoc Sung of the state-run Western Highlands Agro-Forestry Science and Technical Institute said the current crop should yield about the same at 1997/98.

He said losses were less severe than expected and around 40,000 tonnes of coffee beans would come from new plantations.

The prolonged drought which affected Daklak and other coffee-growing areas in central Vietnam broke in late May and led to a shorter subsequent rainy season for the region.

Luyen said exports from the province would be affected, with preliminary estimates showing a fall in volumes of at least 20-30 percent.

He gave no precise forecast for expected export volumes from the current crop but said that in calendar 1997 the province shipped 205,000 tonnes.

"Definitely the value of the crop will be less this year and with smaller-sized beans there will be a direct impact on exports," Luyen said.

Tran Dinh Dinh, vicedirector of the agriculture department, said many trees had died from the drought while others that lacked water had failed to produce beans.

One international coffee trader in Buon Ma Thuot said many farmers had begun picking beans before they had ripened because they were afraid of thieves.

"Hey are frightened of thieves so even, in some cases, local police officers have been hired to take care of the coffee farms. Of course the quality of those beans picked early is not good," the trader told Reuters.

Luyen also said farmers had picked beans before they had ripened, although he added the practice was not widespread.

Because there was less water than usual, some farmers were picking beans earlier to save nutrition for the coffee trees, he added.