Coffee output estimate trimmed by 5%

State-run Coffee Board has pared down its coffee output estimate by 5% to 2.62 lakh tonnes this season, ending September, as erratic monsoon damaged crops in the largest-producing state of Karnataka.      

"Production this season is projected to decline to 2,62,300 tonnes from the earlier estimate (in November 2008) of 2,76,600 tonnes," a senior Coffee Board official said.      

"Rains during the blooming and harvest period dented crops in Karnataka. On top of that, the shortage of labourers during these periods of rains aggravated the problems, contributing to the loss," he explained.      

The estimate for Karnataka has been now pared down to 1,83,860 tonnes from the earlier projection of 1,97,975 tonnes.      

Production in the second-biggest producing state of Kerala is estimated to remain in line with earlier projections of 57,200 tonnes, the official said.      

Tamil Nadu is expected to witness a marginally lower production of 16,255 tonnes, compared with the earlier estimate of 16,440 tonnes.      

Overall robusta production is expected at 1,82,800 tonnes and that of robusta may touch 79,500 tonnes.     

A cut in output forecast in Asia's third-largest grower is set to affect coffee shipment, as the country exports about 80% of its output of the commodity, an industry official said.

He, however, refrained from giving the exact quantum of the decline in exports.      

The Coffee Board had, on November 20, revised production estimate downward by 5.6% to 2,76,600 tonnes from 2,93,000 tonnes projected earlier.      

Output projection for Karnataka was cut by 7.6% to 1,97,975 tonnes in the post-monsoon forecast from 2,14,170 tonnes in the previous estimate. Production estimate for Tamil Nadu was slashed marginally to about 16,440 tonnes from 16,625 tonnes in the post-blossom estimate.      

But the projection for Kerala, the second-largest coffee producing state, was kept unchanged at 57,200 tonnes.      

Before trimming its estimate in November last year, the Board had pegged coffee production at 2.93 lakh tonnes, of which the robusta variety accounted for 1.93 lakh tonnes and arabica 1 lakh tonnes.