MILAN – Brazil’s coffee exports were 19% down in March reaching their lowest level for the month since 2018. According to Cecafé’s monthly figures, Brazil shipped 3,088,391 60-kg bags of all forms of coffee, a sharp decrease from 3,815,112 bags during the same month of 2022.
Green coffee exports were similarly down by 19.4% to 2.781.281 bags, of which 2,674,014 bags of Arabica (-19.3%) and 107,267 of Robusta (-20.9%). Sales of processed coffee (mostly soluble) fell by 15.8% to 307,110 bags.
During the first quarter of 2023, exports recorded a 22.8% decrease to a 5-year low of 8,357,718 bags. Green coffee volumes dropped to 7.437.030 bags, down 24.4% from 2022.
Arabica and Robusta exports fell by 24.2% and 28.7% respectively to 7,166,544 and 270,486 bags. Sales of processed coffee amounted to 920,688 bags (-7%). Shipments to all major destinations were down. Exports to the US, Germany and Italy fell by 26.59%, 44.10% and 31.05% respectively.
The decline in exports “is mainly because we no longer have significant remnants of the record harvest of 2020, which would eventually compensate for the loss of the 2021 and 2022 crops,” Cecafe President Marcio Ferreira in a statement.
It should be noted that March shipments rose 9% over January and 27% over February, added Cecafé general director Marcos Matos.
According to him, this trend is explained by narrower spreads for the current harvest in New York, which encourages producers to accelerate the commercialization of the remaining coffee.
“It is possible that this factor will minimize the drop in volumes shipped in this last quarter of the current harvest” he said referring to the April-June period.
Prices in the Brazilian coffee exchange, which reflect the domestic market, ended Tuesday at $245.00 per bag for the May contract, while the one expiring in September, already linked to the next crop, closed at $225.65.
“That is, a premium of $19.35 per bag over the future harvest,” Matos added.
In other news, Cooxupe, the world’s largest coffee cooperative and Brazil’s number one exporter, said on Friday it sees this year’s coffee harvests in Brazil improving after climate issues stifled recent years’ crops.
The harvest in Cooxupe’s regions should reach around 8.3 million 60-kilogram bags in 2023, up from last year’s 6.4 million, the co-op said.
