Unseasonal rains over the past few days will likely spoil the party for coffee growers in Karnataka and Kerala even as robusta prices rule at near-record levels on concerns over Vietnamese supplies. The current spell of rains has not only delayed harvesting and drying of coffees, but is also seen denting the prospects for next year’s robusta crop triggering early onset of blossoms, growers said.

“It is pretty bad. The arabica harvest is not yet complete. It will all be on the ground due to these rains,” said A Nanda Belliappa, Chairman, Codagu Planters Association. Also, these rains can trigger bean splitting and dropping in arabicas and early blossoms in about 20-25 per cent of the robusta areas, where the harvest may get impacted as one can’t pick the crop when it starts flowering. Besides, if there are no proper backing showers, it would hurt the crop prospects next year, Belliappa said. “About 20 per cent the arabicas crop and 35-40 per cent of robustas in Kodagu have been impacted,” Belliappa said. Kodagu is the largest coffee producing district in the country.

Double whammy

The unseasonal rains have been pretty widespread across Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan and Wayanad districts. Against a normal of 1 mm rain for the Jan 1-8 period, Chikkmagaluru district has received 21 mm of rain, while Hassan has received 31 mm and Kodagu 17 mm of precipitation, as per the data from Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre. “The unfavourable weather is playing havoc. It’s a double whammy for growers as the current crop and the next year’s crop will be impacted,” said Mahesh Shashidhar, the former chairman of Karnataka Planters Association. In addition to weather, the labour shortage is adding to the woes of growers, he said.

Coffee prices, especially robustas, are at near record levels and growers rue that may not be able to take full advantage of the current price trends due to the unfavourable weather conditions.

Farmgate prices of robusta parchment for the new crop are hovering around ₹11,000 levels for a 50 kg bag, up 32 per cent from the same period last year’s ₹8,300 levels. Similarly, the robusta cherry prices are hovering in the range of ₹6,600-6,800, up 57 per cent from the previous year’s ₹4,200-4,250 levels.

Discolouration threat

While arabica parchment prices are hovering at ₹13,700-13,900 levels almost the same as last year’s levels, the arabica cherry prices are up by ₹1,000 per bag at ₹7,750-7,850 levels. Robustas are the widely-produced variety in India accounting for over two-thirds of the total output of around 3.5 lakh tonnes. “Rains have disrupted the harvest and drying process,” said Prashant Rajesh, Director of Wayanad Coffee Growers Association. Wayanad is the major coffee-growing region of Kerala and produces mainly the robusta variety, where about 25 per cent of the bean pickings has been completed.

“Due to the unseasonal rains, the coffee that’s lying on the drying yards faces the threat of discolouration. The affected coffee may turn greyish as compared to the normal yellow-coloured beans. The prices are good this year, but the growers may not realise their full crop as the rains are seen impacting the output and quality,” Rajesh said.

Bose Mandanna, a large grower, said the coffee drying yards are completely filled up as the drying process has slowed down considerably due to the untimely rains. Indian coffees, which are grown under the shade of other trees are largely dried under the sun, which lends them unique quality and taste. The Coffee Board, in its post-monsoon estimates, has pegged the 2023-24 crop starting October at 3.74 lakh tonnes comprising 2.61 lakh tonnes of robusta and 1.13 lakh tonnes of arabicas.

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