BOGOTÁ, Colombia – Coffee production in Colombia, the world’s largest producer of mild washed Arabica, fell 12% in March and 4.4% so far this coffee year. In the third month of the year, Colombia produced 914,000 bags of 60 kg compared to one million 37,000 bags in the same month of 2018, while so far this coffee year (Oct 2018-Mar 2019), almost 7 million bags were harvested compared to over 7.3 million bags in the same previous period.
In the first quarter of the year, coffee production in Colombia fell by 2%, from 3.4 million bags between January and March 2018 to 3.3 million bags.
In the last 12 months (April 2018-March 2019), coffee production closed at 13.5 million bags, 3.5% down from almost 14 million bags produced in the same previous period.
Exports grow 10.4% in March
Coffee exports in the third month of the year increased by 10.4% compared to March 2018, from 1 million 36,000 bags of 60 kg to one million 143,000.
So far this year (January-March), coffee exports increased 11.5%, from 3.2 million bags to almost 3.6 million.
In the last 12 months (April 2018-March 2019), exports exceeded 13.1 million bags, 3.4% up from 12.7 million bags in the same period.
And so far this coffee year (October 2018-March 2019), coffee exports exceeded 7.1 million bags, 6.5% up from almost 6.7 million bags exported in the same previous period.