Coffee exports up 2.54 % in FY08

India’s coffee exports for the crop year (October 2007 to September 2008) has increased by 2.54 per cent at 230,910 tonnes as against 2,25,187 tonnes exported during the previous year, according to the Coffee Board statistics.

In dollar terms, the exports were up 32.09 per cent higher at $586.27 million as against $443.83 million last year. In rupee terms coffee exports have gone up by 27.45 per cent at Rs 2,427.86 crore as against Rs 1,904.95 crore realised last year.

In terms of unit value realisation, exports were up 24.29 per cent at Rs 105,143 a tonne as against Rs 84,594 a tonne fetched last year. According to the International Coffee Organisation, global exports in the first 11 months of coffee year 2007-08 have decreased 4.5 per cent to 86.6 million bags compared to 90.7 million bags in the same period last coffee year.

Indian coffee exports for first-nine months were also up 6.26 per cent at 184,976 tonnes as against last year’s exports of 174,077 tonnes. “After selling most of the produce, about 10-15 per cent of the coffee is left at the farms. Buoyed by high prices last few weeks, coffee growers are demanding more than Rs 200 a bag,” said B L Harish, proprietor of Blan Coffee, Kushalnagar, a farm gate trader.