Coffee exports from producing countries have touched record levels in the first nine months of the current coffee year with a year-on-year increase of 15.9%.
With the exception of Colombian Milds, all other varieties witnessed great export numbers. The decline in exports in Colombian Milds was due to reduced production in Colombia during the last three years.
According to the latest report released by International Coffee Organisation (ICO), the total exports for the first nine months (October 2010 to June 2011) stood at 80.7 million bags, up by 15.9% from 69.7 million bags recorded in the same period a year ago. Arabica exports totalled 52.5 million bags while Robusta exports totalled 28.2 million bags. Both types of coffee achieved record export levels.
Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Honduras, Guatemala, Peru, Uganda and Mexico are the top ten coffee exporting countries respectively during the period. The exports from Brazil increased to 26.36 million bags in the first nine months of the current year compared to 22.34 million bags in the same period a year ago while exports from Vietnam climbed to 13.85 million bags from 11.32 million bags and Colombia?s exports surged to 6.73 million bags from 5.45 million bags.
Indian exports increased to 4.90 million bags from 2.87 million bags while Indonesia?s exports declined to 3.85 million from 4.77 million bags and exports in Honduras and Guatemala surged to 3.58 million bags from 2.82 million bags and to 2.78 million bags from 2.72 million bags respectively. Peru?s exports recorded at 2.15 million bags, up from 1.85 million bags while Uganda?s exports increased to 2.12 million bags from 2.06 million bags.
The coffee export trend in the past ten coffee years was different in the case of performance by region. The highest level of exports for Africa was recorded in the first nine months of coffee year 2002-03, when they reached 9.2 million bags, whereas they totalled only 8.2 million bags in 2010-11. Ethiopia exported 2.4 million bags during this period, representing the highest level ever recorded. Exports by Cote d?Ivoire have declined from the level of 2.4 million bags recorded in 2001-02.
The highest level of exports by Uganda was 2.3 million bags in the first nine months of coffee year 2007-08. In Asia and Oceania, the highest level of exports was 23.8 million bags for the first nine months of coffee year 2010-11. This level of exports was mainly due to the export performance of India, which exported a volume of 4.9 million bags, an increase of 71% compared to the same period in 2009-10. Indonesia and Vietnam recorded their biggest export volumes in 2009-10 (4.8 million bags) and 2006-07 (14.8 million bags) respectively.
In Mexico and Central America the highest export level was recorded in 2010-11, at 12.5 million bags against 11.3 million bags in 2007-08. Only Honduras and El Salvador achieved their highest export levels. Costa Rica and Mexico were unable to repeat their export levels of coffee year 2001-02, which were 1.5 million bags and 2.3 million bags respectively. As for Guatemala, the level of 3.1 million bags reached in 2002-03 remains the highest.
In South America the record volume of exports was 36.3 million bags in 2010-11. During this period, Brazil exported 26.4 million bags, the highest level ever recorded. The strongest performance by Colombia was recorded in coffee year 2007-08 for an export volume of 9.1 million bags and this was followed by a decline in export levels.
