Coffee exports decline marginally in April

Low international prices and slump in demand from Europe urges farmers to hold the crop

India's coffee exports declined by 1% to 37,635 tonne in April this year, according to the latest data from the Coffee Board.

The country had shipped 38,026 tonnes of the brew in the same month in 2011.

The earnings from coffee exports rose by 11% to Rs 545.97 crore in the last month compared to Rs 489.95 crore in the same month last year.

However, in terms of US dollars, the earnings declined by 2.4% ton $108.48 million from $111.14 million in April, 2011.

In the first seven months of the current coffee year, exports fell by 2.4% to 1,96,496 tonnes from 2,01,395 tonnes in the 2010-11 coffee year (October-September).

In the January-April period of the current calender year, coffee shipments rose by 2%to 1,38,971 tonnes against 1,36,180 tonnes in the year-ago period.

Arabica exports declined to 28,103 tonnes in the first four months of 2012 from 30,144 tonnes in the same period in 2011, while shipments of robusta rose to 78,541 tonnes from 74,354 tonnes.

According to market analysts, arabica exports have gone down as farmers are holding their crop due to low global prices and sluggish demand from Europe on account of the economic slump.