Varietycelebratedrecordsalesand
keptBrazil’sgoodexportlevelsin2016,
withashortfallinRobustacoffee
T
hetotalvolumeofcoffeeexport-
edbyBrazil, leader of the sector,
dropped 7.5% in 2016, due to
difficulties that affected thepro-
duction of Robusta coffee (also
known as conilon). Nevertheless, the most
produced and exported variety in Brazil is
Arabica coffee, which showed good results
inproductionand inexports, keeping “glob-
al supplies in normal conditions”, says Nel-
son Carvalhaes, president of the Brazilian
Coffee Exporters Council (CECafé).
In the past two years, he notes, a pro-
longed drought reduced coffee offers in Es-
pírito Santo, leading Brazilian producer of
conilon, impacting expressively upon the
shipments of this variety, resulting into an
86.2% drop in shipments abroad in 2016,
compared to the previous year. On the oth-
er hand, the performance of Arabica was up
1.9% and accounted for 87% of all Brazilian
coffee exports, against 79% in 2015.
In the entity report, published in late
2016, Carvalhaes mentioned that the sec-
ond half of the year was the most chal-
lenging for the segment, as it was off-
season time and the stocks dropped
considerably, followed by a period of sub-
stantial recovery in the fourth quarter”. He
recalled the damages suffered by conilon
coffee from the adverse weather condi-
tions, “receding to the 1997 levels”, but he
equally insisted that Arabica coffee “com-
pensated with the record exports on re-
cord”. The same held true for industrial-
ized soluble coffee, which registered an
8.8-percent growth in shipments.
Brazil, leader in production and ex-
ports, ships the bulk of its coffee abroad
and, the most significant portion con-
sists in green coffee. The total export re-
sult in 2016, although smaller compared
to the previous year, was still superior to
the average reached in five years (33.6
million sacks). The product represent-
ed 6.4% of all Brazilian agribusiness ex-
ports and 2.9-percent of all sales abroad
by the Country, attesting to the good per-
formance, capacity and efficiency of the
leading global supplier, say sources from
the coffee exporters’ association.
n
Arabica
times
Soluble coffee registered a good performance in exports
Sílvio Ávila
40
