SAO PAULO, Brazil – Prices for robusta coffee have been in an upward trend since the last quarter of 2023 in Brazil, reports CEPEA in its latest analysis. The CEPEA/ESALQ Index for the robusta type 6, screen 13, hit BRL 889.32 per 60-kilo bag on March 7, the highest since November/16, in real terms (IGP-DI February/24).
Values oscillated in the following days and the Index closed at BRL 888.20 per bag on March 15, with an increase of 5.64% in the partial of this month.
Price rises are related to the international scenario, since part of purchasers have been demanding the product from Brazil. According to data from Cecafé, robusta shipments totaled 1.03 million bags in January and February, six times more than the volume registered in the same period last year.
In Vietnam, the biggest robusta producer, the production is smaller this season and players have been having difficulties to send the product to Europe, where stocks have been decreasing.
Conflicts at the Red Sea have been affecting the ship traffic. Along with that, Indonesia, the third largest robusta producer, has also been facing difficulties in the production.
Players in Brazil are already concerned with the high volume of robusta that has been sent to the international market. The competitiveness of coffee roasters in Brazil has been lower than that for exporters, who, in turn, pay more for new batches. As a result, some coffee roasters have been changing the blends, adding more arabica coffee.
Although arabica prices have been higher than robusta quotations, the price gap between these varieties is smaller. In February/23, the price gap between Indexes for arabica and robusta was at 434.72 Reais per bag and it reduced to only 167.16 Reais/bag in February/24.
Arabica
The CEPEA/ESALQ Index for arabica coffee averaged BRL 1,006.16 per 60-kilo bag on March 15, a slight decrease of 0.11% compared to that on February 29.
