MILAN – Brazilian coffee exports were again on the rise last month, but showed different trends for the two varieties. According to data released by Cecafé on Tuesday 10 September, exports reached a new all-time high, for the month of August, of 3,732,707 bags: a 0.7% increase over August 2023.
It should be noted that while export volume increased by less than 1%, earnings rose by 31% to $955.6 million, reflecting the surge in prices.
Exports of green coffee recorded +1.4% increase, to 3,411,546 bags. However, Arabica volumes were down 6.6%, at 2,486,871 bags, while Robusta shipments rose by 31.4% to 924,675 bags.
Sales of processed coffee declined (-6.3%) to 321,161 bags, mostly soluble.
Exports of all forms of coffee in the first eight months of the year were also at record highs, 39.2% to 31,892,160 bag.
Green coffee exports were almost 8.9 million bags higher (+43.5%) than a year ago at 29,259,468 bags, of which 23,154,529 bags (+25.7%) of Arabica and an impressive 6,104,939 bags (+212.2%) of Robusta. Sales of processed coffee increased by 4% to 2,632,692 bags.
Shipments to all the main destination countries were up, with the sole exception of Japan (-3.2%).
Brazilian coffee exports to the USA and Germany surged by 30.1% and 69.1% respectively. Shipments to Belgium recorded a triple-digit growth (+122.2%) to reach a total exceeding 2.9 million. Brazilian exports to Italy increased by 51.4% to almost 2.6 million. Also worth noting is the surge in shipments to Mexico (+261.50%).
Almost 2.9 million bags were shipped to the Belgian port of Antwerp, a key hub for the European coffee industry, where most of ICE Arabica’s certified stocks are held.
The German ports of Hamburg and Bremen came at second and third place in the ranking. Genoa was fifth behind New Orleans.
Cecafé president Márcio Ferreira emphasises, in the note accompanying the statistics, the unprecedented contribution made by robusta exports.
“Our conilon and robusta coffees continue at ‘cruising speed’ and have already totalled more than 6 million bags sent abroad between January and August, which is the largest volume in history for the first eight months of the year and represents an expressive increase of more than 200% compared to 2023” he stated. “Brazil has filled the gap left by other competing countries, such as Vietnam and Indonesia, which continue to import Brazilian coffees”, he highlights.
He adds that the positive performance of exports also reflects the commitment of the country’s exporters to international customers and their raw material suppliers, amid a critical infrastructure and logistics scenario, especially in Brazilian ports.
According to Ferreira, in order to maintain their contribution to the country’s trade balance and the ship the coffee of the Brazilian producers around the world, exporting companies have been giving up their margins and maintaining Brazil’s market share in the global market by paying these extra costs. “The question is how long they will be able to hold out, since the scenario has been deteriorating month by month.”
