Coffee exports down 20% in first half, but board not worried

BANGALORE: The latest official figures for export permits issued for Indian and re-exported coffee for the first half (H1) of this fiscal show a quantitative fall of over 20% compared with the corresponding period of 2006-07. Going by the figure for shipment-permits issued and not confirmed exports (available some 45 days later), India's H1 07-08 exports add up to 108,806 tonnes, down 20.56% from the H1 06-07 level of 136,970 tonnes.

However, Coffee Board chairman G V Krishna Rau told ET: “We see no cause for concern in all this. There is enough coffee in the market to meet our 07-08 target of 210,000 tonnes. Last year's performance of 249,030 tonnes was an aberration and not the norm, as can be seen by the fact that India exported 201,555 tonnes in 05-06 and 211,765 tonnes in 04-05. The abnormal performance in 06-07 was due to two factors.

For one thing, carry-over stocks from previous years was sold in 06-07 due to higher prices. Then, the last fiscal saw a much higher proportion of Robusta coffee beans imported for processing into instant coffee for value-added re-exports. This was because prices of Indian beans in the last fiscal were much higher than the international prices. That differential has come down in this fiscal."

Official figures for export permits issued only for Indian coffee show a drop of 13.75% in H1 07-08 to 105,311 tonnes from the H1 06-07 level of 122,109 tonnes. Which means that the quantum of shipment-permits issued for re-exported coffee (essentially Robusta beans imported for value-added re-exports in the form of instant coffee) has plummeted to 3,495 tonnes in H1 07-08 from 14,861 tonnes in H1 06-07.