Global coffee exports decline 7% in March 2012

World coffee exports declined by almost 7% to 9.88 million bags in March this year, International Coffee Organisation (ICO) has said.

The worldwide shipments of the brew stood at 10.59 million bags, of 60 kg each, in the year-ago period.

Last month, coffee shipments had registered an upswing. Global export volumes rose by 7% to 9.32 million bags in February 2012 from 8.67 million bags in the year-ago period.

In the first six months of the current coffee year, the shipments of coffee fell by 2.3% to 51.7 million bags, from 52.9 million bags in the October-March period of the 2010-11 coffee year (October-September).

For the 12 months ended March 2012, exports of arabica declined to 64.7 million bags from 67.3 million bags last year, whereas robusta exports rose to 38.6 million bags from 34 million bags in the same period.

ICO has pegged the production in crop year 2011-12 at 131 million bags, representing a fall of 2.4% as compared to the 2010-11 coffee year.

The organisation has attributed the fall mainly to decline in output in the regions of Asia & Oceania and South America.

Apart from Brazil, where lower production is attributable to the biennial cycle of arabica production, the decline in production in crop year 2011-12 is accounted for by adverse weather conditions in several exporting countries, it said.