Bengaluru, February 25

Speciality grade coffee robusta parchment is likely to face a shortage this season as most growers have opted to dry process robustas, converting them into cherry coffees due to higher prices witnessed in the early part of the harvest season. , Parchment coffees are produced from fully ripened fruits that are extracted through a wet milling process and dried in the sun.

Growers and curers confirmed that there is likely to be a shortage of robusta parchment or washed robustas, which command a premium in the international market. The harvest of robustas is also coming to an end and growers in Karnataka feel that the overall crop could be lower than initial estimates.

Jeffrey Rebello, Vice-President, United Planters Association of Southern India (UPASI), and a grower based in Sakleshpur, said the robusta crop is much lower than expected as it was poor in many areas. “There’s hardly any robusta parchment. Most people have gone for cherry this year as prices were good initially and parchment prices were nothing to talk about. Now there is a huge shortage and robusta cherry parchment prices are picking up now,” he said.

Prices shoot up

Rebello estimates that the demand for robusta parchment is likely to be around 32,000-40,000 tonnes. Farmgate prices of robusta parchment have moved up from the levels of ₹6,300-6,800 per 50 kg bag to ₹8,200-8,250. Robusta cherry prices which were hovering around ₹3,900-4000 are ruling at the same levels.

It is estimated that about 20 per cent of the robusta coffees are wet-processed and the remaining is vry-processed (cherry coffee). According to Coffee Board data, India produced 28,752 tonnes of robusta parchment in 2020, while robusta cherry production was 1.35 lakh tonnes.

Devaraj A N, Chairman, All India Coffee Curers Association, estimates that there could be a 20 per cent decline in robusta parchment production this year. “Initially, there was low demand for robusta parchment, but of late its has picked up,” he said.

Price differential

Traditionally, there used be a big price differential between robusta parchment and robusta cherry. The parchment prices used to be twice that of cherry coffees. However, in the early part of this harvest season the gap narrowed and cherry caught the growers’ interest, Devaraj said.

N Ramanathan, Chairman, Karnataka Planters Association, said the shortfall in robusta crop size could be around 20 per cent in the country this year. About 70 per cent of the harvest is over and more clarity would be there in the next few weeks.

The KPA chairman also confirmed that production of robusta parchment is low this year, estimating the decline at around 35 per cent.

Advantages of robusta parchment

Bose Mandanna, a large grower in Suntikoppa, said the robusta crop is good with more cherries this year. Growers have to incur an additional cost of ₹4,000 per tonne for producing robusta parchment when compared with cherry coffee. Though it is a water-intensive and expensive process, parchment has its own advantages apart from higher prices, Mandanna said. Parchment coffee could be dried in five days, while cherry takes 15-20 days. About 24 bags of parchment make a tonne of coffee, while for cherry it is 38 bags. Growers could store more parchment within their available godown space compared to cherry.