Global coffee exports down by 2% in October-February: ICO

NEW DELHI: World coffee exports declined by 2% to 41.5 million bags in the first five months of the current coffee year, despite a rise in shipments in February, International Coffee Organisation (ICO) has said.

The worldwide coffee shipments stood at 42.3 million bags (of 60 kg each), in the same period of the 2010-11 coffee year, the global body on coffee said. Coffee year runs from October to September.

Global shipments of coffee rose by 7% to 9.32 million bags in February 2012 from 8.67 million bags in the year-ago period.

World coffee shipments have declined from the start of the current season due to low opening stocks on account of record shipments in the 2010-11 coffee year and fall in production in the current crop year.

Coffee stocks in exporting countries declined to 17.4 million bags in the 2011-12 season compared to 18.45 million bags in the last season, their lowest levels since ICO began keeping records, the London-based body of coffee exporting and importing countries had said earlier.

Worldwide shipments of coffee rose by 11% to an all-time high of 104.5 million bags in the 2010-11 coffee year from 94.3 million bags in the 2009-10 coffee year. ICO has also pegged the production in crop year 2011-12 at 128.5 million bags against 134.3 million bags in the 2010-11 crop year, representing a decline of 4.3%.