Harvesting of coffee in India and other producing countries has got delayed this crop season due to erratic rains in several parts of the world.

According to Sahadev Balakrishna, chairman of Karnataka Planters Association (KPA), the Arabica coffee harvest should ideally start by the middle of November. But this season, the harvest will be delayed by a month due to heavy rains in the Arabica-growing belt of Chickamagalur district. He said berries dropped from plants due to heavy rains.

Balakrishna said there could be a 10% decline in the estimated Arabica production this year. The state-owned Coffee Board’s post blossom estimation for Arabica output in 2010-11 stood at 99,500 tonne. He said the estimates could change when the board releases its post monsoon estimation in the days to come.

KPA vice chairman Marvin Rodrigues said the planters could not carry out picking, pulping, drying and other processing work in major coffee belts in Karnataka, which accounts for 70% of the total coffee production in the country at around 2.8-3 lakh tonne per annum.

According to International Coffee Organisation (ICO), the crop year that started in October 2010, is a high production year in the biennial cycle for the coffee producing countries. But production has already been affected due to unfavorable weather in several coffee producing countries.

In the case of Mexico and Central America, with the exception of Honduras and Nicaragua , all countries in the region continue to be affected by higher than annual rainfall combined with high production costs, which is likely to have a negative impact on production.

Weather problems are also affecting Colombia , which had shown signs of recovery in coffee output after two consecutive years of low production levels.

ICO also said the situation is no different in Vietnam, the second largest coffee producer in the world, where the crop has been affected due to irregular rainfall distribution patterns. A prolonged drought at the beginning of the year was followed by heavy rains which in turn, is creating difficult harvesting conditions. In Indonesia also heavy rains are threatening the coffee production.

The ICO has estimated that the world coffee production for the crop year 2010-11 would touch 133 million bags (60 kg a bag).