São Paulo – Brazilian coffee exports dropped in volume and revenue in January this year from a year ago, the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafé) reported this Friday (12). Last month, 2.709 million 60-kg bags of green coffee were shipped abroad from Brazil, down 11.4% from January 2015. Revenues reached USD 401.4 million, down 34%. Price per bag averaged at USD 148.16, down 25.5% from January 2015.
Cecafé chairman Nelson Carvalhaes said the performance was expected, since weather conditions detracted from coffee exports, especially in the second half of last year. The industry believes foreign sales will increase as of July, as the 2016-2017 crop year begins.
“We have low stock-up levels in Brazil, because whatever is produced is being sold. Demand is on the way up, and throughout the next decade Brazil will need to produce an additional 12 million bags,” said Carvalhaes, noting that besides foreign demand, domestic consumption is also growing.
From February 2015 through January 2016, 36.5 million coffee bags were exported, fetching USD 5.9 billion at an average price per bag of USD 162.24. in January, however, price per bag was the lowest for the period.
In January, the United States remained the top importer of Brazilian coffee at 546,400 bags, or 20% of overall exports. The importer ranking goes on with Germany at 18%, Italy at 11%, Japan at 8%, Belgium at 6% and Russia at 3%. Turkey increased its imports by 33.7% to 72,300 bags and Slovenia bought 68,700 bags, a 45.2% increase over a year ago.
Cecafé also reported that so far in the ongoing crop-year, spanning from July 2015 to June 2016, the top-selling variety was Arabica. Brazil exported 21.9 million coffee bags. Arabica-type coffee accounted for 81.6% of exports, followed by 9.4% of soluble coffee, 8.9% of Robusta and 0.1% of ground and roasted coffee.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum