Honduras shuts port after quake; coffee unhurt

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras will temporarily shut down the Caribbean port of Puerto Cortes, where it ships 80 percent of its exports, after a large earthquake nearby on Thursday, the national port authority said.

"There is damaged machinery and equipment," Roberto Babum, head of Honduras' port authority told local television.

Puerto Cortes is the sea port for the industrial area around the city of San Pedro Sula and also handles the bulk of the Central American nation's banana, coffee, coconut, and hardwood trade.

Jose Angel Saavedra, a major producer and member of the IHCAFE coffee growers' group, said there were no signs of damage to Honduran coffee farms after the quake, of 7.1 magnitude.

(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia, Mica Rosenberg; editing by Jackie Frank)