São Paulo – Brazil exported a total of 2.2 million coffee bags in April, a similar volume to the amounted exported in the same month of 2017. Revenues reached USD 343.5 million, a drop of 12% over April of 2017. The data was released this Wednesday (09) by the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (CECAFÉ). The Arabica coffee remained at the top of exports with 86.1% of the total, followed by soluble coffee, with 11.5%, and Robusta coffee, with 2.4%.
From January to April of 2018, Brazil exported 10,105,288 coffee bags, a drop of 2% over the same period of last year. Forex exchange revenues declined 12% in the same comparison at USD 1.596 billion.
CECAFE´s president, Nelson Carvalhaes, said, in a statement, that the “results of April reflected the intercrop period, with a production that met the demand of global importers, however, with a volume below the previous months.” Carvalhaes said he’s optimistic over the next coffee year, with the new crop coming in July, which should increase exports.
Sales to Arab countries totaled USD 59.3 million from January to April, a decline of 18% over the same period of 2017. Overall, 384,500 bags were shipped, a drop of 8% in the same comparison. The bag’s average price went down 10%. The region accounts for 4% of all the coffee exported by Brazil. Last year, revenues from coffee exporters to Arab countries surged 25% over 2016.
From January to April, the top destinations remained the United States and Germany, with 17.4% and 17% of total exports, respectively. They were followed by Italy, with 10.5%; Japan, with 7.3%; Belgium, with 5.7%; Turkey, with 2.9%; France, with 2.9%; Russia, with 2.7%; Canada, with 2.7%; and the United Kingdom, with 2.5%.
The port of Santos remained as the main exporter in the calendar year, with 84.4% of coffee shipments, equivalent to 8,532,966 bags. The port of Rio de Janeiro comes in second, with 10.7% of the coffee exports.
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
