By Lise Alves, Contributing Reporter
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Coffee exports (including green grains, soluble, roasted and grounded) registered an increase of 9.9 percent in volume during the 2013/2014 season, but declined by 11.6 percent in revenues, according to CeCafe (Coffee Exporters Council of Brazil). The number of bags exported from July 2013 to June of 2014 totaled 33,971,542 with revenues of US$5.327 billion, reported the entity last week.
According to CeCafe this is the largest volume exported since the 2010/2011 season, when the country shipped abroad 35.27 million bags. “We expected approximately 32.5 million bags to be exported in the 2013/2014 season, and we reached a volume five percent greater,” said the organization’s general director, Guilherme Braga.
The entity reported that the decrease in revenues reflected the lower prices of coffee in the international market from July of 2013 to January of this year. Although the severe drought, which affected coffee plantations in Brazil during the beginning of the year, made prices surge almost ninety percent, most producers had already negotiated their product by January.
According to CeCafe’s Export Balance Report, in the first semester of 2014 the largest volume of coffee exported was of the Arabica variety (83.7 percent) and that Europe was the main destination for all coffee products exported by Brazil, purchasing 54 percent of all the product sent abroad. North America purchased 25 percent of all exports while Asia purchased fifteen percent.
The main gateway for coffee exports by Brazil continues to be the Port of Santos, responsible for 77.1 percent of all shipments, followed by the Port of Rio de Janeiro (with 17.4 percent of all coffee shipments) and Port of Vitoria (2.7 percent).
Read more (in Portuguese).
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