Comments
Indian coffee exports have increased by 6 per during April-July at $451.94 million on higher prices and increased demand for instant coffee from countries such as Russia and Turkey. This is despite the decline in the purchases of Indian green coffee by traditional buyers in Europe.
The Commerce Ministry’s quick estimates peg April-July shipments at $451.94 million over $426.43 million a year ago. During July, shipments rose 11.90 per cent to $104.64 over $93.51 million a year ago. In rupee terms, exports were up 12 per cent at ₹3,714.37 crore in April-July over t ₹3,313.59 crore a year ago.
The permits issued by the Coffee Board for the April-July period stood at 1,38,576 tonnes, down 2.7 per cent over 1,42,550 tonnes a year ago. Except for instant coffees and arabica parchment, shipments of all other categories were down during this period.
Demand-supply mismatch
The growth in export value is largely attributed to the multi-year high global prices on account of demand-supply mismatch due to lower output in key producing countries.
During April-July, arabica parchment shipments were up by a tenth at 28,745 tonnes (26,088 tonnes in the same period last year), while the Arabica cherry volumes were down marginally at 5,906 tonnes (5,998 tonnes). Robusta parchment shipments were also down at 20,514 tonnes (21,836 tonnes), while exports of robusta cherry variety saw the highest decline of 12.64 per cent at 1,09,468 tonnes (1,25,312 tonnes).
Exports of instant coffees, which account for about a third of overall Indian export volumes, were up 11 per cent at 82,675 tonnes (74,422 tonnes). Overall, exports were down 2.34 per cent at 2,47,951 tonnes (2,53,898 tonnes).
Weak global economy
Amidst weakening economic conditions, the demand for better value coffees such as instant coffee was up from countries such as the Russian Federation at 16,118 tonnes (13,411 tonnes), Poland at 8,757 tonnes (7,498 tonnes), Turkey at 7,101 tonnes (4,087 tonnes) and Malaysia at 6,772 tonnes (4,991 tonnes) among others.
The demand for Indian green beans declined during April-July from large buyers in Europe such as Italy at 37,758 tonnes (46,095 tonnes), Germany at 24,710 tonnes (29,897 tonnes), Belgium at 14,153 tonnes (20,961 tonnes) among others.
India, the seventh largest producer of coffee, exports about two-thirds of its produce, while the rest is consumed domestically. . India is hosting the 5th World Coffee Conference Expo in Bengaluru from September 25-28, which is expected to attract over 2,000 delegates from over 80 countries. The event, being held in Asia for the first time, is expected to help the Indian growers showcase their coffees and the sustainable practices to grow them to the global community.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.