Coffee exports plunge 17% from January 1

India’s coffee exports are likely to decline in this quarter owing to a shortfall in the crop and a reduction in the export incentive. Coffee Board figures show a 17 per cent drop year-on-year in exports from January 1 to February 11. The industry expects the trend to continue in the coming weeks. In 2019, exports were marginally higher than in the previous year.

“Arabica arrivals were bad and now robusta volumes coming to the market are slow. As a result, exports are lower than a year ago,” said Ramesh Rajah, president of Coffee Exporters Association.

In the first quarter of 2019, better carryover stock had enabled higher shipments.


India exports 70 per cent of its coffee production.

Since January 1, the export incentive for coffee has been reduced to 3 per cent from 5 per cent, a dampener for shipments.


“The current level of incentive is not enough. We are waiting for remission of duties and taxes on export product (RoDTEP) scheme, which may take another three months,’’ said Rajah.

Though the coronavirus outbreak has not directly impacted coffee exports, exporters said a prolonged impact would hit shipments. “In Asia , South Korea is a significant buyer. If the epidemic continues, then we fear a disruption in the supply of empty containers for export as most of them come from Southeast Asia,’’ said Rajah. Coffee growers are expecting a 25-30 per cent fall in coffee production this year. The arabica bean harvest is over while that of robusta is coming to an end in the main growing states of Karnataka and Kerala. “The Arabica crop has been down 35-40 per cent and we are seeing a slump in robusta in pockets like south Coorg. We expect it to be down by 25-30 per cent, which is more than last year due to unseasonal rain,’’ said MB Ganapathy, chairman, Karnataka Planters’ Association.


The situation is no different in Wayanad in Kerala. “Almost 80 per cent of berry picking is over and we see a 10 per cent fall from last year. To make matters worse, prices are down over 10 per cent from last year at ₹66 per kg for robusta cherry,’’ said Prashant Rajesh, secretary of Wayanad Coffee Growers Association.