Vietnam\\\'s coffee output seen down

HANOI, June 6 (Reuters): Vietnam will see significantly lower rainfall and water shortages later this year in the Central Highlands area due to a likely El Nino weather event, a government report said, raising the prospect output from the 2015/16 coffee crop will shrink.

The Southeast nation is the world's largest robusta producer, accounting for nearly a fifth of global coffee output.

Any drops in output from Vietnam or No.2 robusta producer Indonesia could push up global prices of the bitter beans used for making soluble coffee.

"Daklak, Dak Nong and some districts in Gia Lai will face water shortages and dryness in the 2014-2015 dry season," Vietnam's Natural Resources and Environment Ministry said in a report seen on Thursday, its first forecast of El Nino's impact.

The report, posted on its web site (www.monre.gov.vn), referred to the top coffee growing areas in the five-province Central Highlands, which produce 80 per cent of Vietnam's output. Rainfall later this year would drop significantly, waters in Central Highlands' rivers could be 10-30 per cent lower than before between July and September, and water supply from rivers and streams will fall quickly from November, the report said.

It gave no forecasts of potential damages on any crops, including rice in the Mekong Delta food basket. Vietnam is the world's second-largest exporter of the grain after India.

The six-month dry season begins from October in the Central Highlands region while the coffee crop year lasts between October and September, starting with a four-month harvest.