Global coffee exports up 14%

Global coffee exports rose 14 per cent in the first nine months of the current crop year, led by shipments from Vietnam and Brazil, the International Coffee Organisation said.

Coffee exports increased to 73.6 million bags from October through June, from 64.3 million bags a year earlier, the London-based ICO said. One bag weighs 60 kilograms (132 pounds). Shipments of robusta, the main coffee type grown in Vietnam, increased 25 per cent. Exports in June rose 3.6 per cent from last year, the ICO said. Domestic consumption also increased in producer nations, it added.

"For the period May 2006 to June 2007, domestic consumption in Brazil totalled 16.9 million bags compared with 15.95 million bags for the same period,'' ICO Executive Director Nestor Osorio said.

"Consumption was also buoyant in several other producing countries, notably Costa Rica, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia and Uganda.''

Global coffee output is forecast to reach 121.4 million bags, up 10 per cent from last season, and barely surpassing consumption, which may exceed 120 million bags, the ICO said. The world will produce 7.7 per cent less coffee next year, as Brazil enters the least-productive year of a two-year growth cycle for its coffee trees. The country's production is expected to drop almost 25 per cent to 32 million bags, the ICO said. Robusta futures on liffe fell $9, or 0.5 per cent, to $1,832 a tonne. Prices soared to a nine-year high last month and have gained 33 per cent in the past year.

The ICO expects "the continuation of firm prices despite the slackening in roasting activities during the summer and the decreased threat of any major climactic problems,'' said Osorio.