MILAN – Cecafé’s new monthly figures for January 2024, released last Friday, highlight a significant increase in Brazil ‘s green coffee shipments, which hit – once again – record levels for the Robusta variety. Exports of all forms of coffee reached a record volume of 3,960,678 bags last month – 39% increase over January 2023.
Green coffee exports grew by as much as 45.4% to 3,665,313 bags. Arabica volumes amounted to 3,207,526 bags, up 31.1% compared to a year ago.
Robusta exports skyrocketed to a record 457,787 bags – 6 times (+503.5%) as much as last year. This was driven by a strong increase in demand for this variety on the international markets.
Brazil stepped in to make up for the deficit caused by crop failures in Vietnam and Indonesia, which was exacerbated by the Red Sea shipping crisis.
Sales abroad of processed coffee (mostly soluble) were the only item going against the trend, with a 9.6% decrease y/o/y to 295,365 bags.
The trend for the first 7 months of the 2023/24 crop year (July-January) was also positive. Exports of all forms of coffee grew to 26,984,087 bags (+21.3%). Green coffee exports rose to 24,909,266 bags (+24.3%).
The greatest push comes, in this case too, from Robustas, whose shipments reached a total of 4,416,739 bags, up by 461.3% compared to the same period of 2022/23.
The increase in Arabicas was more moderate (+6.5%), with 20,492,527 bags exported so far. Sales of processed coffee were 6.1% down, although they still exceed 2 million bags.
In January, export data showed a strong increase in shipments to all destinations: Germany (+57.4%) surpassed the USA (+31.25%) as Brazil’s main destination.
Exports to Belgium recorded a +123.5%, those to Japan +50.1%. Surprisingly, exports to Italy grew by a modest 1.65% and were shy of 200 thousand bags.
Worth noting, behind Italy, is the continuing positive trend (+153.94%) of Brazil’s coffee exports to China, reflecting the strong commercial promotion underway.
Cecafe president, Marcio Ferreira, said the monthly performance was positive, given the ongoing logistical bottlenecks in the country.
According to a report by Cecafe and startup ElloX Digital, 85% of shipments out of the port of Santos were rescheduled or delayed in January.
“This problem has been spreading since last year, when cyclones and tropical storms in the southern region of Brazil directed vessels from southern ports to other destinations, such as Santos, which generated a backlog of cargo,” Ferreira said in a statement.
