ScarceavailabilityoftheRobustavariety(conilon)
generatessupplydifficultiesanduncertainties
fortheactivitiesoftheBrazilianindustries
T
he general crop in 2016 was
the biggest (driven by Arabica
coffee) and the market was fa-
vorable, but the Brazilian cof-
fee industry was caught in the
middle of a supply crisis. Towards the end
of the year, it experienced difficulty in get-
ting supplies of Robusta (conilon), in vol-
umes and prices appropriate for its needs.
A big component in soluble coffees, but
equally in several brands of toasted and
ground coffee, the raw material became
scarce and got more expensive because of
production problems and huge exports in
the previous season.
Industry entities had expressed this
concern in late 2016 and early 2017, when
there was even an announcement for an
unprecedented importation of coffee, but
was later suspended. Farmers and indus-
try representatives came up with argu-
ments challenging the effective need of
this operation, the former argued on the
grounds of remaining stocks and with
a new crop about to be harvested (late
March) besides the inherent sanitary risks
of coffee imports, whilst the latter made it
clear they would be unable to acquire big-
ger volumes at competitive prices.
The government, through the National
Food Supply Agency (Conab), went so far
as to offer the industry its auction system
for the acquisition of conilon coffee, but at
the first attempt, on March 22, 2017, no-
body showed interest in selling the prod-
uct, putting the blame on low prices. In
parallel, since the beginning of the year
the Conab had been staging auctions of its
public stocks of the Arabica variety, which,
likewise, were reaching their limit during
the first quarter of the year.
Still with regard to Robusta and its
shortage, the director of the Institutional
Affairs Department at theBrazilianAssocia-
tionof SolubleCoffee Industries (Abics), had
been warning since late 2016 about a possi-
ble conflict of Brazilian exports of this prod-
uct, where the Country is equally the global
leader, besides green coffee. Over that year,
Brazil was still in a position to boost the for-
eign sales of this item (8% from 2015), sim-
ply because these business deals were
closed until May, before the reflections of
the smaller crop surfaced”, but in the first
months in 2017 sales dropped 26%.
Nathan Herszkowicz, executive direc-
tor at the Brazilian Coffee Industry As-
sociation (Abic), in turn, was turning the
spotlight on the financial and operation-
al challenge of every coffee roasting com-
pany in light of the supply crisis and the
potential of the market, adapting com-
positions without jeopardizing the flavor
and aroma appreciated by the consum-
ers. Within this context, and considering
that there is nothing that can assure pro-
duction in 2017will be big enough tomeet
market needs, suggesting possible diffi-
culties for the industry over this period.
n
No
robustness
Sílvio Ávila
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