India’s coffee exports fell marginally by 4.45 per cent to 1,91,055 tonnes in the first six months of the current calendar year due to sluggish global prices as higher production is expected from other countries.
The country had shipped 1,99,969 tonnes in the same period last year, according to the Coffee Board data.
“Since there was not much improvement in the global price situation, our coffee shipments have lowered to 1,91,055 tonnes during January-June period of this year,” a senior Coffee Board official told PTI.
In terms of value, overall coffee exports remained slightly lower at Rs 2,818.35 crore during the period against Rs 2,955.35 crore last year.
As per the Coffee Board data, robusta coffee exports fell seven per cent to 1,03,296 tonnes in the first six months of 2013 against 1,10,983 tonnes in the year-ago period,
Shipments of arabica variety fell by a little over four per cent to Rs 39,367 tonnes from Rs 41,026 tonnes, while instant coffee exports declined by 32 per cent to Rs 12,153 tonnes from Rs 17,826 tonnes.
The export realisation was lower at Rs 1,47,515 per tonne.
According to experts, Indian exporters are cautious in taking export orders as there is sluggishness in global prices because higher supplies are expected from major coffee-producing countries like Brazil, Vietnam and Indonesia this year.
Most of the Indian coffee has been shipped to Italy, Germany and the Russian Federation.
The board has pegged coffee production at 3,15,500 tonnes for the 2012-13 crop year (October-September), a marginal increase of 1,500 tonnes over the final estimate of 3,14,000 tonnes in 2011-12.