Coffee exports climb 50% as demand recovers

Coffee exports from India, Asia’s third-biggest producer, gained 50 per cent in the five months ended May as demand recovered in the biggest importing countries, the state-owned Coffee Board said.

Tata Coffee and its domestic rivals shipped 129,815 metric tonnes between January and May, compared to 86,654 tonnes a year earlier, Deputy Director N.V. Nagarajaiah said by telephone from Bangalore today. Exports fetched $275 million, 42 per cent more from a year earlier, he said.

India is betting on a rebound in European orders to sustain the gain in exports as the region purchases more than 75 per cent of the nation’s output, Ramesh Rajah, president of the Coffee Exporters’ Association of India said May 10. Italy, Germany and Spain are among the biggest buyers of green coffee from India.

Shipments fetched an average Rs 1,00,311 ($2,150) a tonne in the January-May period, compared to Rs 1,08,161 a year earlier, data from the board showed.

Overseas sales since the beginning of the crop season on October 1 jumped to 174,593 tonnes from 122,803 tonnes a year earlier, Nagarajaiah said. Shipments for the period were valued at $371 million, up from $286 million a year earlier, he said.