Brasília – Brazil’s coffee production should reach 50.48 million bags in 2012, growth of 16.1% in comparison to the previous crop (43.48 million bags). According to the National Food Supply Company (Conab), the good performance should result in a record crop and is due to the investment made by producers and to the fact that 2012 is a year of positive crops – the soil is more appropriate for coffee production every other year.
Each bag is equivalent to 60 kilograms of the product. Expectations are for over half the production to be turned to the foreign market. “Some 28 or 29 million bags of coffee should be exported,” said the Production and Agroenergy Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Gerardo Fontelles. According to him, initially, producers are storing the better quality coffee, “awaiting better prices”.
If expectations are confirmed as to the total produced, Brazil should have a new record in coffee production, exceeding the mark of 48.48 million tonnes, obtained in the 2002/2003 crop. In comparison with the last crop for a good year (2010), the growth was 4.96%.
Arabica coffee production is estimated at 37.95 million bags, which corresponds to 75.2% of total production. Coffee of the conilon (or robusta) species is estimated at 12.54 million bags – little over 25% of national production.
In terms of cultivated area, Conab has recorded 2.34 million hectares, growth of 2.7% in comparison with the 2.27 million hectares of the 2011 crop.
*Translated by Mark Ament
