MILAN – Coffee production in Colombia, the world’s biggest producer of Mild Arabica coffees, fell to 11.1 million 60-kg bags in 2022, a 12% decrease over year reported on Wednesday the National Coffee Growers Federation of Colombia (FNC). The sharp drop was due to persistent rains caused by La Niña phenomenon.
This is well below a projection of 12 million bags previously issued by the entity. The country had not recorded such a low harvest since 2013, when it reached 10.88 million bags.
In December alone, production dropped by 29% to 981,000 bags, compared to almost 1.4 million bags in the same month of 2021.
During the first three months on the current coffee year (October-December), Colombia harvested about 2.9 million bags versus over 3.5 million bags in the equivalent period of 2021/22, or a 17% decrease.
Coffee exports in 2022 decreased by 8% to little less of 11.4 million bags compared to over 12.4 million bags in 2021.
In December, Colombia exported 1.03 million bags of coffee, a 12% decrease over the same month of 2021.
During the October-December period, sales abroad surpassed 2.8 million bags, down 14% from the same period of the previous coffee year.
