Coffee exports dip 2.6%

Rupee appreciation and a fall in prices have hurt the interests of coffee exporters

Coffee exports from India have seen a marginal decline of close to 2.6 per cent to 182,553 tonnes during January-June, reflecting the depressed sentiment among exporters as the news of a better-than-expected crop in Brazil resulted in price drop.

The rupee appreciation combined with lower availability of beans locally left the exporters with much lesser quantity to export also caused dip in exports. During the first six months of the last year, coffee exports stood at 187,494 tonnes.

“The shipments have declined in the first six months in line with our expectations. We have projected a decline of 5-10 per cent in exports this year due to lower crop in the season ended March. Rupee appreciation bothered exporters to an extent. The other main worry is that prices came down to around 170 cents per lb after reaching a high,” said Ramesh Rajah, president, Coffee Exporters Association. He said the news of Brazil not going to reap a lower crop impacted the sentiment, as everybody were expecting that Brazil will go for a lower crop and the prices will continue to rise.

In value terms, exporters earned $486.40 million as against $518.42 million in the same period last year. In rupee terms, the exports were valued at Rs 2,969.71 crore as against Rs 2,766.16 crore with an average unit value of Rs 162,676 per tonne, an increase of 10.3 per cent over the corresponding period last year.

Coffee prices remained highly volatile in April and May, with the ICO composite indicator recording its highest monthly average in two years at 170.58 cents per lb in April. It, however, declined 3.9 per cent in May to settle at 163.94 cents per lb.