OREANDA-NEWS. Coffee output from Vietnam's ongoing 2014/15 crop has dropped around 20 percent from the previous season to 1.33 million tonnes (22.2 million 60-kg bags), an industry official said on Tuesday.

"A lingering drought and no forecast of rain has been affecting the Central Highlands, and farmers who drill wells for watering trees have faced water shortages," Chairman Luong Van Tu of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association said.

The dry weather outlook in Vietnam, the world's top robusta producer, plus a slow replacement of old trees with low yields may hit the country's 2015/16 output, Tu said after an industry meeting to review production.

The country yielded 1.6 million tonnes in the previous 2013/2014 crop, Tu said.

The coffee crop year lasts between October and September, and the four-month harvest ended in January.