Arabica inches ahead of robusta coffee

The current year (2004-05) has seen arabica coffee increasing its share in the country's total coffee crop, in keeping with the trend of the last three years.

Earlier, arabica's share was less than 35 per cent. Yesterday, Indian arabica variety, globally tagged under the 'other milds' category, is a shade above 40 per cent of the total Indian crop.

The post blossom forecasts of the Coffee Board indicate an arabica crop of 1.17 lakh tonnes, up 14.6 per cent over the previous year.

Share of the robusta variety, which has a significant crop base, is expected to grow by just 4.2 per cent to 1.75 lakh tonnes during the same period.

The total coffee crop is estimated at 2.92 lakh tonnes, up 8.1 per cent over the previous year's crop of 2.7 lakh tonnes.

However, most recent trends indicate the robusta crop may actually be a little lower than expected.

Growers said good robusta production was expected in estates that had good irrigation facilities.

"Since robusta plants are deep-rooted ones, the long dry period will affect the crop. In most of the estates, the tanks went dry after pulping of the crop last year. Therefore, there is a likelihood of production falling by 10 to 20 per cent," they cautioned.

Arabica enjoyed good rains at the right time.

Robusta production has over the last seven years more or less stagnated at the 1.7 to 1.8 lakh tonne mark, while arabica has grown from less than a lakh tonnes to around 1.15 lakh tonnes.

Despite overall growth, arabica has gone through a series of highs and lows, mirroring the biennial cropping pattern.

For instance, the crop touched a high of 1.21 lakh tonnes in 2001-02 before sliding to 1.01 lakh tonnes last year. However, it has always rebounded strongly to make up lost ground.

On the contrary, robusta has stabilised at around 1.75 lakh tonnes. It last saw a variation in 2000-01 when the crop jumped to 1.97 lakh tonnes.

Indian arabica is used more as a filler, with the best arabica types coming from Colombia and Brazil.

The robusta variety is used for instant coffees. India produces about 4.5 per cent of the world's coffee and exports 70 to 80 per cent of what it produces.