Brazil coffee exports totaled 2.6 million 60kg bags in May, showing a drop of 20.3% compared to the same month in 2020, due to logistic issues and new Ico rules on statistics and Certificates of Origin, data from the monthly report of the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafé) showed.
The figure above represents the lowest level for this month since 2018.
According to the South America entity, 2.34 million bags of green coffee were exported last month from the world’s largest producer, a decrease of 20.5% year-on-year. The May volume includes 2.05 million bags of the Arabica variety, the milder coffee preferred by coffee shops and premium brands, a 16.5% decrease year-on-year . Sales abroad of robusta, the type widely used to make instant coffee, dropped 40.9% to 287,627 bags. Shipments of processed (mostly soluble) coffee recorded a 18.5% decrease to 275,111 bags.
Cecafe said that an ongoing shortage of containers, as well as limited space in vessels, have prevented Brazil from shipping a higher coffee volume abroad in May.
Cecafe’s head Nicolas Rueda told Reuters port congestion in Asia and in the United States have reduced the availability of containers for Brazilian exporters, who are having difficulties booking the shipping boxes.
More positively, the cumulative total for 2020/21 points to record shipments in a single season.
Coffee export for the first 11 months of crop year 2020/21 (July – May) reached a record volume of 42,499,785 bags, up 14.3% from the equivalent period of 2019/20.
Green coffee export were up 16% to 38,832,216 bags. Arabica and Robusta exports stood at 34,515,335 and 4,316,881 bags, up 13% and 16.4% respectively. Processed coffee exports shipments amounted to 3,667,569 bags, down 1.2%.
Meanwhile, Brazil coffee exports during the first 5 months of calendar year 2021 stood at 17,767,226 bags, up 5.1% over 2020.
Green coffee exports increased by 6.6% to 16,207,937 bags. Arabica and Robusta volumes surged 7.1% and 1.9% to 14,679,856 and 1,528,081 bags.
Cecafé was created from the joining of two organizations representing the coffee export industry: Brazilian Association of Coffee Exporters (ABECAFÉ) and Brazilian Federation of Coffee Exporters (FEBEC). The union process had the orientation and support by a group of professors from the University of São Paulo (School of Economics, Business and Accounting) through PENSA, Agribusiness Research & Knowledge Center, in 1999.
