Coffee exports up 5% at 59,288 tonne in Jan-Feb

The country's coffee exports rose by five per cent to 59,288 tonnes in the first two months of the current calendar year on higher demand, according to the Coffee Board.

Of which, 37,731 tonnes was exported in February, slighly higher than 36,423 tonnes shipped in the same period last year, it said.

According to the Board, coffee exports increased to 59,287 tonnes during January-February period of 2013 from Rs 56,535 tonnes in the year-ago period.

In value terms, coffee exports during January-February of 2013 improved to Rs 891 crore from Rs 857 crore in the same period corresponding year. But the export value realisation continued to remain lower at Rs 1,50,312 per tonne.

Much of the coffee was shipped to Italy (14,054 tonnes), followed by Germany (5,985 tonnes) and Russian Federation (5,136), it added.

The rise in overall coffee exports was on account of higher shipment of premium arabica variety besides re-exports, but some drop was seen in overseas sale of robusta variety.

Arabica shipments jumped to 14,962 tonnes in the first 2 months of the current calendar year from Rs 12,959 tonnes in the year-ago period. Whereas coffee re-exports rose to 12,037 tonnes from 9,955 tonnes in the review period.

Robusta comprises maximum volumes in the total coffee exports. But export of robusta variety showed a decline to Rs 27,645 tonnes from 28,351 tonnes, while overseas sale of instant coffee too fell to 4,613 tonnes from 5,244 tonnes in the review period.

The Board has pegged coffee production at 315,500 tonne in the 2012-13 crop year (October-September), a marginal increase of 1,500 tonne over the final estimate of 314,000 tonnes in 2011-12.