HANOI (Xinhua): Vietnam shipped abroad 445,000 tons of coffee worth 906 million U.S. dollars in the first four months of this year, posting year-on-year respective declines of 33.8 percent and 6.9 percent, according to a local trade agency on Friday.

Vietnam is estimated to export 1.1 million tons of coffee totaling 1.8 billion dollars in 2008, seeing respective decreases of 8.3 percent and 1.3 percent, said the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The country, the world's second biggest coffee exporter after Brazil, is likely to ship 120,000-125,000 tons of coffee worth 192- 200 million dollars to the United States this year, the department said, noting that its other major coffee markets include Japan and Singapore.

Prices of Vietnamese coffee in the world market are now high due to a smaller coffee output caused by unfavorable weather conditions in the Central Highlands region, Vietnam's key coffee- growing area. To ensure sustainable coffee development and prevent deforestation for coffee cultivation, the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has recently asked localities not to expand coffee-growing areas from now to 2010.