India’s coffee exports dip by 21% in Jan-July

2 Aug 2009 
 
 
NEW DELHI: The country’s coffee exports have declined by 21 per cent in the first seven months of 2009 to 1.17 lakh tonnes due to a fall in global 
demand following a rise in prices of Indian coffee, the Coffee Board said.

Coffee exports stood at 1.48 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period last year, it said.

“Export orders have been less because of higher prices of Indian coffee compared to Vietnam, Brazil and the US,” a Board official said.

Indian coffee is quoting higher by 10-15 per cent than Vietnam and the US in the international market, a trade source said.

According to Board data, arabica exports dipped by over 37.64 per cent to 22,707 tonnes between January and July this year from 36,414 tonnes in the year-ago period.

The shipment of robusta coffee, which has twice the amount of caffeine compared to arabica, also declined 12.03 per cent to 65,805 tonnes against 74,811 tonnes in the last year, it said.

Similarly, the export of instant coffee fell to 17,646 tonnes from 23,751 tonnes in the last year, it added.

Apart from high prices, lower coffee output in India has also hit the export volumes, the official said.

As per post monsoon estimates, coffee output for 2008-09 stood low at 2.62 lakh tonnes from post blossom estimates of 2.93 lakh tonnes, he said.

India exports coffee to Italy, Russia, Germany, Belgium and Arab countries.