Coffee exports up 42% in Jan-April

The rising overseas demand pushed up coffee exports by 42 per cent to 100,574 tonnes for the first four months of the year. In value terms, the exports were up 34.3 per cent to Rs 1,025.64 crore during January-April compared to the year ago period. However, the unit value realization was lower by 5.3 per cent to Rs 1,01,978 a tonne as against Rs 1,07,756 a tonne during the same period a year-ago.

The rise in exports was mainly on account of availability of Indian coffee and higher demand for robusta variety and increase in the re-export of processed coffee. The shortage in availability of Columbian mild arabica also led to the a rise in exports, industry sources said. For the year 2010-11, the Coffee Board is targeting total exports to be at 210,000 tonnes, up two per cent over the previous year.

The robusta variety constituted 51,173 tonnes in total exports, while arabica was 21,734 tonnes during the period, according to data released by the Coffee Board, apex body for promotion and marketing of the crop. The Indian origin coffee exports stood at 81,703 tonnes, registering a growth of 24.7 per cent over the corresponding period last year. The re-exports were 18,871 tonnes, a growth of 3.5 times over the year ago period.

During the first four months of the calendar year 2009, the country had exported 70,843 tonnes of coffee as the demand was low due to global economic recession, industry sources said.

During the first seven months of the current coffee year (October 2009 to September 2010), the exports were up by 35.8 per cent to 145,352 tonnes compared to the corresponding period of the previous coffee year.

The overseas sale of instant coffee stood at 27,541 tonnes. Companies such as Tata Coffee, Nestle and NKG Jayanti Coffee shipped maximum quantity to Italy (27,970 tonnes), Russia (12,646 tonnes) and Germany (9,442 tonnes).

According to the Coffee Board, total output is estimated to be higher at 289,600 tonnes in the 2009-10 coffee year, against 262,000 tonnes last season, a growth of 10.5 per cent year on year.