Coffee exports from countries including Brazil and Vietnam tumbled by 5.2% year-on-year in volume terms in the first 10 months of the current coffee year that ended in July 2010.
According to statistics from the London-based International Coffee Organisation (ICO), total volume exported during the first 10 months of coffee year 2009-10 declined to 78.5 million bags compared to 82.7 million bags recorded in the same period in the previous coffee year.
Exports from the world?s largest coffee producer, Brazil, declined by 6.4% while it tumbled by a whopping 17.3% in Vietnam, the world?s second largest coffee producer.
The most significant fall were recorded in Colombian Milds, with a decline of 22% in exports compared to the same period in 2008-09.
However, exports of other milds increased by 1.9% while those of Brazilian Naturals and Robustas fell by 3.1% and 6.3%, respectively.
The fall in Robusta exports was strongly influenced by lower export figure for Vietnam, the world?s leading Robusta producer, ICO statistics showed.
The exports declined primarily because of crop damage in producing countries while consumption level in imported countries also took a hit, said J Manjunath of Sivadarsh Exports, a leading exporter from Tamil Nadu.
Coffee production in 2009-10 is estimated to have been tumbled by 6.6% to 120 million bags from 128.43 million bags recorded in the previous crop year, a recent estimate by ICO showed. In this crop year, production fell in Africa, in Central America, Mexico and in South America .
Asia recorded an increase in production despite drop in output in Vietnam and Papua New Guinea. World coffee consumption, which was increasing at appreciable levels in the past five years, fell in 2009.
The estimated world consumption in calendar year 2009 stood at 129.1 million bags, down by 1.2% compared to 130.7 million bags in 2008. This fall has been attributed to lower consumption in a number of importing countries, particularly in European Union and in emerging markets.
Consumption declined in the EU in countries like Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Finland and Poland. In Germany, consumption dropped to 8.8 million bags in 2009 from 9.5 million bags in the previous year while it declined to 97,000 bags from 1.19 million bags in Poland during the same period.
Coffee consumption in Spain declined 4% while it slipped by 11% in Sweden . In the US, too, consumption dropped to 21.43 million bags from 21.65 million bags.
Overall, across the world, coffee consumption declined to 38.62 million bags in the importing countries in 2009 from 39.78 million bags a year ago while it increased to 37.70 million bags from 36.70 million bags in the exporting countries, including India. In India, consumption increased to 1.57 million bags from 1.51 million bags.