São Paulo – The volume of Brazilian coffee exports to Arab countries was down 9% from January to June 2012 compared with the same period of 2011. In the first half of this year, Brazil sold 526,464 60-kilogram bags to the Arab world. Revenues, however, were up 1.52%, at US$ 106.9 million. The figures were issued this Wednesday (11th) by the Brazilian Coffee Exporter Council (Cecafé).
Considering total coffee exports from Brazil in the 2011-2012 crop year, revenues were up 5.6% at US$ 7.841 billion, and down 15% in volume, compared with the preceding 12-month period, at 29,768,744 bags exported.
“The 2011-2012 crop performed as expected. Although the volume shipped was down by approximately 5 million bags due to its being a biennial crop, revenues were up US$ 417,551 million from last crop,” said Cecafé director general Guilherme Braga in a press statement.
To Braga, it is still early to make projections for the next crop year, which starts this July. “We are cautious regarding the volume and quality of the coffee which will be produced, due to the heavy rains currently taking place in producing regions. The most affected variety is expected to be Arabica coffee, which has the highest added value,” he says.
According to Cecafé, in the first half of 2012, Europe was the main importing market, accounting for 55% of all product shipped. North America accounted for 19% of the total, Asia, for 19%, and South America, for 4%.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
