MILAN – Coffee exports from India fell by 6% to 332,000 tonnes or 5.53 million bags in the financial year ended March 2020. Earnings recorded a 12% decline to a nine-year low of $742 million. In rupee value terms, the shipments were down by about a tenth.
Ramesh Rajah, President of the Coffee Exporters Association, said the decline in shipments in the past few weeks and lower prices have impacted exports.
“Until February, our shipments were marginally lower. In March, which is normally a good period for shipments, people were expecting some improvement. However, the spread of the coronavirus and subsequent lockdown have impacted the overall shipments,” he said.
Though coffee curing has been exempted from the lockdown in India, movement of beans from farmgates to the curing works has been slow due to lack of buying interest. The lack of liquidity in the system is also taking a toll on exports. Though coffee has started moving from curing works to ports in the past couple of days, the movement has been slow, Rajah said.
The Karnataka Growers’ Federation, an organisation of planters spread over three coffee-growing districts, has appealed to the State government to allow them to bring workers in vehicles for plantation work.
Without them, the coffee growers would not be able to take up seasonal works in the estate and that would affect the production in the coming year.
In a press release issued on Tuesday, KGF president U.M. Thirthamallesh and general secretary Muralidhar S. Bakkaravalli said after the lockdown came into effect, the work in coffee estates had come to a standstill. Many workers had left the estates.
Due to the lockdown, planters have been facing difficulty in bringing workers even from neighbouring villages. The district administration should allow vehicular movement to ferry the workers, they said and added that the planters would provide the workers with masks and ensure social distancing in the estates.
