São Paulo – Brazil’s coffee exports to Arab countries declined year-to-date through October this year from the equivalent year-ago period, according to information released this Friday (7th) by the Brazilian Coffee Exporter Council (Cecafé, in the Portuguese acronym). Data show Brazil has exported 1.14 million 60-kilo bags to the Arab world in the first ten months of the year and 1.2 million bags in the same period of 2013, a 4.5% decline.
Revenue-wise, Brazilian coffee exports to Arab countries declined even further, by 12%, from US$ 186.3 million in January through October last year to US$ 163.2 million this year. The Arab world accounted for 4% of the volume of Brazilian coffee exports year-to-date through October this year, while it had a 5% share in the equivalent period last year.
Total coffee exports grew by 15.4% in January through October, with 29.9 million bags. Foreign exchange revenue changed by 20.4% to US$ 5.3 billion. Revenues increased more than volume exported because coffee was sold at better prices this year than last year. A chart from Cecafé shows an average price of US$ 177.28 for a 60-kilo bag this year and of US$ 166.86 last year, a 4.4% hike.
According to information released by Cecafé, the organization’s CEO, Guilherme Braga, says the global market remains receptive to Brazilian coffee. “The volume of good quality coffee produced and exported by Brazil has also presented good results, in spite of the drought which caused a reduction in grain size. Nonetheless, the crop can be perceived as good quality, and that helps sales,” he said.
According to Braga, this scenario is likely to persist in November and December. Thus, he believes Brazil will end 2014 with a total of nearly 36 million bags exported.
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
