Arabica coffee output may drop 5 per cent

Heavy rains over past week to blame

The production of domestic Arabica coffee is likely to drop 5 per cent during the current crop year due to very heavy rainfall in some of the growing areas in Karnataka over the last few days. As a result of the rainfall the harvesting of the crop has been delayed and the production of Arabica coffee may drop to around 95,000 tonnes.

According to the post-blossom estimates of the Coffee Board, the production of Arabica is pegged at 99,500 tonnes for the present year. Karnataka contributes close to 80 per cent of the total Arabica production of the country.

In the major growing areas of Karnataka, like Malandur area of Giris in Chikmagalur district, there was very heavy rainfall between November 10 and November 17. Especially, the area received around five inches of rains on the night of November 11, resulting in massive damage to the grown up Arabica crop, Sahadev Balakrishna, chairman, Karnataka Planters Association said.

“Normally, the coffee growing regions of Kodagu and Chikmagalur do not get rains in November, except stray thunder showers. But this year, we have seen unusual off-season rains, which is more than normal monsoon rains. This rain has caused dropping of cherries,” Balakrishna told Business Standard.

While the post-monsoon estimates are yet to be carried out by the Coffee Board, the growers in Kodagu and Chikmagalur estimate the losses at 5 per cent of the total post-blossom estimates. This means a loss of around 4,000 tonnes in the growing areas of Karnataka. “As it is there is a delay in harvesting due to delay in ripening of fruits this year and the occurance of heavy rainfall may add to the problems of the growers,” he said. Normally, the Arabica crop is harvested in the first week of November.

For the current year, the production of Arabica coffee was estimated to grow by 8.8 per cent to 79,925 tonnes. With the rains damaging the crop in the state, the growers estimate the production to be lower by five per cent.

“Though the fly picking has already started in some of the growing areas of Kodagu and Chikmagalur the quality of such beans would be inferior,” Balakrishna said.

The ripening of Robusta happens in the month of December and the rains may not have much impact on that crop prospects, he added.

The post-blossom estimates of the Coffee Board estimate the domestic coffee production to be higher by 6.3 per cent at 308,000 tonnes for the current year compared to the post-monsoon estimates of last year.