Surge in Brazilian coffee exports

Food & Drink Weekly, March 14, 2005

Surge in Brazilian coffee exports: Brazil's green and soluble coffee exports earned $374.57 million in the first two months of the year, up 61.7% on the Jan-Feb 2004, the Coffee Exporters' Council (Cecafe)said yesterday. Of this total, $328.47 million was generated by sales of green coffee, up from $198.94 million in the same period last year. A further $46.1 million was generated by exports of soluble coffee, a rise of 41% on the $32.71 million earned in the first two months of last year.

In volume terms, shipments of green and soluble coffee rose by 17% to 3.96 million 60-kg bags, up from 3.38 million bags in the same year ago period. Export earnings were boosted by recent rise in coffee prices on world markets--average prices paid for Brazilian green coffee reached $96.73 per 60-kg bag in February 2005, up from just $67.38 in the same month last year. Average prices paid for soluble coffee exports rose from $93.79 to $106.87 over the same two periods.