MILAN – In its third report for the year 2020, the National Supply Company (Conab) revised upwards its estimate for Brazil’s 2020/21 coffee output by over 1.4 million bags to an all-time high of 63.08 million bags: this 27.9% more than the harvest recorded in 2019/20 and 2.3% more than the previous record of 61.66 set in 2018/19.
Arabica production is seen at 48.77 million bags, a 38.1% increase over 2019, which is attributable to the on-year in the biannual cycle as well as to favourable weather conditions during the season.
Brazil’s arabica output typically moves in cycles of alternate higher and lower production. The upswing this time was enhanced by “the eradication of low-yield areas, investment in technology, and a favourable climate”, Conab said.
Robusta production suffered a 4.7% decline from last year’s historic high of 15 million bags to 14,31 million bags, mostly due to the drought in Espírito Santo, the largest producer of this coffee variety.
Brazil’s coffee area increased 1.4% from 2019 to 2020, said Conab, to 2.16 million hectares, as around 300,000 hectares of coffee trees planted a couple of years ago came to production.
Productivity rose to 33.48 bags per hectare, a 23.1% increase from last year.
The top growing state of Minas Gerais harvested 34.65 million bags, up 41.1% on year.
Overall production in Espírito Santo rose to 13.96 million bags, up 3.4% on year. Robusta production fell to 9.19 million bags, down 12.4% from 2019. Arabica production rose a staggering 58.7% to 4.77 million bags.
São Paulo (Arabica) also saw a 42.4% increase in production to 6.18 million bags. Crops in Bahia and Rondônia rose by 32.9% and 11.2% to 3.99 and 2.44 million bags respectively.
Only Paraná saw a decline in production to 941,900 bags, down 1.2% on year.
