São Paulo – Coffee exports to the Arab countries declined 17% in volume and 27% in revenues in this year’s first semester over the same period of last year, according to data released this Wednesday (13) by the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafé).
Coffee producers shipped 585,000 60-kg bags of the product to the Arab market from January to June of this year, against 706,000 bags in the same months of 2015. The decline amounted to 121,000 bags. Sales in last year’s first six months generated USD 106.8 million in revenues to Brazil, while the this year’s same period generated USD 77.5 million, a decrease of USD 29.3 million.
The percentage shared by Arab countries as destinations for Brazilian coffee totaled 3.6% in volume and 3.2% in revenues in this year’s H1. The difference between the participation of the Arab market in exports in H1 2015 and this year’s first six months, however, was not great. It was only slightly higher: 3.9% of the total in volume and 4.4% in revenues.
Overall coffee exports also declined in H1. They decreased from USD 3.1 billion from January to June of 2015 to USD 2.3 billion in the same months of this year, a drop of 25%. In quantity, international sales of the sector stumbled 8.7%, from 17.7 million bags to 16.1 million bags in the same comparison.
“Due to climate factors and low stock levels, there was a decline in the last few months. But, the expectation, driven by the opening of a the new crop, is for exports to return to the growth levels throughout the year”, said Cecafé’s president Nelson Carvalhaes.
The last coffee crop went from July 2015 to June 2016, a period in which Brazil exported 35 million bags with an average price of USD 151.26. Revenues generated with international trade reached USD 5.3 billion. There was a decline of 22% in revenues and 3.2% in volume. The new crop starts in July.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
