* Vietnamese beans offered at par to discounts of $10-$20 to London

* Average export price rises 5 pct to $2,092/T in 2013

By Ho Binh Minh

HANOI, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Vietnam's coffee export market slowed with weak buying demand during the holiday season, while discounts to London robusta futures market widened as stocks remained high, traders said.

Farmers have ended harvesting a bumper crop, while shipments from the world's top robusta producer in recent months have fallen based on government data, suggesting high inventory.

December's coffee exports fell 26 percent from a year earlier to an estimated 120,000 tonnes (2 million bags), the government said last week. ID:nL3N0K20DQ

The estimated shipment this month brought coffee exports between October and December, the first quarter of the 2013/2014 season, to 261,500 tonnes, down 32 percent from a year earlier.

The coffee crop year last between October and September.

"The beans from the previous crop made up a large part of the exported volume so far, plus plentiful stocks of fresh coffee," a trader at a foreign firm in Ho Chi Minh City said.

"Roasters have covered well their need so they do not have demand to buy now," he added.

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For FACTBOX on Vietnam's coffee crop, click ID:nL3N0EJ237

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Liffe March robusta coffee LRCc2 fell $20, or 1.2 percent, to finish at $1,694 a tonne on Monday, under pressure as exports in the world's top grower Vietnam began to pick up and were expected to continue to rise. ID:nL6N0K92DK

Tracking London falls, robusta eased to 33,700-34,000 dong ($1.60-$1.61) per kg on Tuesday in Daklak, Vietnam's largest coffee growing province, from 34,500 dong a week ago.

Sales could pick up in coming weeks ahead of Tet, the country's largest festival to greet the Lunar New Year that arrives on Jan. 31, 3014, but farmers are expected to sell slowly, the Ho Chi Minh City-based trader said.

"They have better income this year so the financial burden is not huge and there's not too much pressure to sell," another trader at a private firm said.

The average export price of Vietnamese coffee this year has risen 5 percent from 2012 to $2,092 a tonne, free-on-board basis, based on government data.

Vietnam has exported 1.29 million tonnes of coffee in the calendar year ending December, a drop of 25.7 percent from a year earlier, the government has said.

Robusta grade 2, 5 percent black and broken were quoted at par with London's March contract, while bids were seen at discounts of $10 to $20 a tonne to the March contract.

($1 = 21,090 dong)

(Editing by Anand Basu)

((ho.minh@thomsonreuters.com)(+844 3825 9623)(Reuters Messaging: ho.minh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: MARKETS VIETNAM/COFFEE