India’s coffee shipments for the crop year 2021-22 (October-September) registered a record of over 4.25 lakh tonnes, up 22 per cent over 3.48 lakh tonnes a year ago.

As per provisional data, in dollar terms, the shipments clocked a 36 per cent growth to top $1.146 billion against $842 million a year ago. In rupee terms, the shipments topped ₹8,800 crore, up 42 per cent over 6,171 crore a year ago.

A strong pent-up demand from key buyers in European markets such as Italy and Germany coupled with an increase in prices helped the shipments clock a good growth during the year. The per unit realisations were up by 16 per cent at ₹2.06 lakh per tonne from ₹1.77 lakh last year.

Weak rupee aids growth

In the first six months of the current financial year, coffee shipments registered a 6.5 per cent growth at 2.11 lakh tonnes compared with 1.98 lakh tonnes last year. In value, the shipments grew 26 per cent to $593 million ($470 million in H1 last year). In rupee terms, the growth was 33 per cent at ₹4,645.75 crore (₹3,474.08 crore). The weakening of the rupee against the dollar in recent months aided the shipments.

Ramesh Rajah, President, Coffee Exporters Association, said the shipments during the crop year 2021-22 were a record and attributed the performance partly to the pent up demand and availability of coffee.

Indian coffee is mainly consumed in the out-of-home segment in Europe that mainly consists of cafes, coffee bars and restaurants among others. The lockdowns during the second wave had impacted the out-of-home consumption affecting the export demand.

“The Covid gap is being filled up as lot of shipments were delayed. Coffee was there and the coffee moved,” Rajah said. Also the slowdown in shipments from Vietnam, the largest producer of robustas did benefit the Indian exporters during the year. Contrary to the expectations, the Russia-Ukraine war did not make any impact on the Indian shipments. Russia is a large market for the Indian instant coffees.

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