Coffee export up 53% in Jan-July

India's coffee export surged by 53 per cent in the first seven months of this year to 1.78 lakh tonnes on the back of higher domestic output, according to the Coffee Board.

The country had exported 1.16 lakh tonnes in the same period last year.

"The rise in the shipment of coffee is mainly due to higher domestic supply following good production output in the 2009-10 crop year (October-September)," a senior Coffee Board official said.

Out of the total export during January-July period of 2010, regular export, including robusta and arabica varieties, accounted for 1.50 lakh tonnes, while 27,338 tonnes was re-exports.

The shipment of robusta variety of coffee rose to 97,650 tonnes from 65,393 tonnes, while the export of arabica coffee increased to 35,131 tonnes from 22,757 tonnes in the reveiw period, the Board data showed.

The realisation from the coffee export was about Rs 1,798.85 crore during January-July period, against Rs 1,254.41 crore in the year-ago period. The unit per value realisation was Rs 1,00,911 per tonne in the review period, it said.

The country's coffee output has increased to 2.89 lakh tonnes in the current year against 2.62 lakh tonnes in the previous year.

In the next crop year, starting October this year, coffee output is estimated to rise 6 per cent to 3.08 lakh tonnes, out of which 2.08 lakh tonnes would be robusta variety and the remaining arabica.

Much of the coffee was shipped to countries such as Italy, Russia, Germany and Belgium. India is the fifth-largest coffee producer in the world and the third-largest in Asia.