"The weather is now dangerous for the coffee business,"said a trader in the central highland province of Daklak.

"Farmers either do not have enough beans for sale or they are holding back because they don'T need the cash very much."

He said drizzle had fallen in Daklak since the beginning of the week and had disrupted the drying process. Daklak accounts for 60 percent of the country's coffee crop.

The trader said farmers were expected to sell more beans before the lunar new year festival which falls in the middle of February.

Vietnam's robusta grade 2, five percent black and broken was quoted at $1,540-1,560 a tonne, FOB Saigon Port, unchanged from last week.The trader in Daklak estimated between 50-60 per cent of Vietnam's 1998-99 coffee crop had been harvested but added the rainy weather remaineda big obstacle.

Harvesting of Vietnam's coffee crop started in October and should last until January.

An international coffee trader in Ho Chi Minh City said bean moisture was higher than normal but still acceptable and no mould had been found in any recent shipments.

Another trader said some shipments were delayed this week at Saigon Port as exporters failed to collect coffee beans.

A storm -- the seventh to hit Vietnam this year -- was off the country's southern tip on Thursday night and heavy rains were expected to strike coastal provinces over the next few days, local media reported on Friday.Vietnam is one of the world's top exporters of robusta,widely used in the production of instant coffee.

Meanwhile, more than half of the coffee crop in Vietnam has been harvested but the market is quiet due to the slow drying process, traders in Singapore said.

One trader at a European house said some 80 per cent of Vietnam's current crop had been harvested so far while another at a Singapore firm put theamount at over 60 per cent.

"Heavy rains have stopped but there are drizzles every day and it's not easy to dry the beans," a trader at the European house said of Vietnam's harvesting.

European houses have mostly covered their December positions and are seeking January-March shipments, traders said.

"There are some delays but it's just a small portion of the crop. It's just late but not a big problem," said another trader.

Heavy rains last month in Vietnam's key coffee growing areas have stopped but the weather is still "a little bit wet," said the trader.

Some traders said they rejected shipments of Vietnamese beans due to dissatisfaction over the moisture content but also said it was not a big concern for them.

Liffe robusta coffee futures crawled mostly higher last week, shrugging off downward pressure owing to technical trading and profit-taking earlier in the day.

Spot January finished down $20 to $1,900 per tonne while March was up $10 to $1,725.

A chartist in Singapore said prices mightstabilise around current levels, then move higher later.

"I am still quite bullish," he said.

Differentials for Vietnam's robusta grade 2, five per cent black and broken, were seen at around $260 a tonne under London levels.

Harvesting of Vietnam's 1998-99 coffee crop started in October and will last until January.

The US Agriculture Department estimated Vietnam's 1998-99crop at 380,000 tonnes, down from the last crop's 400,000 tonnes, due to a prolonged drought earlier this year.