Coffee exports continue to fall

Plunge 18 per cent during Jan-May ‘09 due to low demand

While global demand for coffee continues to fall owing to the global economic slowdown, coffee exports from India have been hit by low demand as well as heavy crop loss back home. Exports have dipped 18 per cent in the first five months of the present calendar year. Coffee exports during January-May 2009 stood at 87,372 tonnes as against 106,941 tonnes during the same period last year.

According to provisional data released by the Coffee Board, export value in dollar terms was down 31.85 per cent, while in rupee terms it fell 14.98 per cent. The value of exports was $190.06 million (Rs 944.71 crore) during January-May ’09 as against $279.05 million (Rs 1,111.17 crore) in corresponding period of the previous year.

According to Ramesh Raja, president, Coffee Exporters Association of India, “Offtake from the European markets and the Russian Federation has come down. According to him, coffee exports will continue to reel under the impact of the recession for the next few months.”

Coffee Board chairman G V Krishna Rau said, reduction in domestic production, especially in the coffee growing areas of Karnataka has been another major reason for the exports to plummet. The crop is likely to drop 5 per cent to 262,000 tonnes from the earlier estimates of 276,000 tonnes.

Post-blossom survey of the Coffee Board estimated the new crop to be 293,000 tonnes for crop year October 2008 - March 2009. The board revised it down 5.6 per cent, to 276,000 tonnes in the post-monsoon survey in November 2008. “However, once harvesting began we got reports from parts of Karnataka, mainly Chikmagalur, that the crop was below estimates due to untimely rains, non-availability of fertiliser leading to berry drop. So, after the harvest we have downgraded our estimates to 262,000 tonnes,” said Rau.

Among the three coffee-growing districts of Karnataka, Hassan has shown the highest fall of 28.16 per cent (7,900 tonnes) followed by Chikmagalur at 20.14 per cent (14,450 tonnes) and Kodagu at 6.96 per cent (7,960 tonnes). Karnataka accounts for over 70 per cent of the country’s coffee output. The revised post-monsoon crop estimate for Karnataka is placed at 183,860 tonnes