HONDURAS – Curfew to impact coffee exports

MILAN – Honduran coffee producers and officials are still concerned that coffee exports from the Central American country could face further delays after Sunday’s bloodless military coup that ousted president Manuel Zelaya.

Following the appeals for calm of the newly appointed president Roberto Micheletti, government workers returned to work yesterday, but the situation remains tense.

Large volumes of Honduran 2008-09 coffee is awaiting shipment from ports as well as from rural areas in producing regions. Exports are already are running 10% behind the year-earlier pace. Now the situation is getting even worse, since work hours in Honduran ports, which are normally operational 24 hours a day, are essentially cut in half by the curfew imposed from 9 o’clock in the evening until 6 o’clock in the morning.

According to the International Coffee Organization it is too early to assess the impact of the situation in Honduras to the global market balance.