The recession-hit coffee industry will show signs of a revival only from December this year when the new crop arrives in the market, said G V Krishna Rau, chairman, Coffee Board of India.
Speaking to Business Standard on the sidelines of an event to announce the India International Coffee Festival 2009, Rau said, exports will continue to be low in the next few months, registering a drop of 20 per cent over last year. The festival will be held in Bangalore during October 7-9.
During the last coffee season (October 2007 - September 2008), India exported 220,030 tonnes. This time, till August 11, exports stood at 138,044 tonnes. With just another month to go for the present coffee year to conclude, it has become increasingly clear that exports will fall 20-25 per cent compared with last year. “Demand from the Russian Federation and European countries has fallen due to economic slowdown in the last few months. However, the chief reason for downfall of coffee exports from India is the reduction in output back home,” said Rau.