Global coffee exports fell around 12% in April, the second straight monthly decline, due to a drop in shipments by key producers Brazil and Columbia. The exports declined to 8.77 million bags, of 60 kilogram each, in April this year, compared with 9.93 million bags a year before, showed the latest data released by the International Coffee Organisation (ICO).
Although coffee exports rose by 7% to 9.32 million bags in February, the shipments dropped by almost 7% to 9.88 million bags in March from a year earlier. Exports of the bean until end-April have dipped by 4% to 60.3 million bags since the coffee year started on October 1, showed the data. Arabica coffee futures in New York closed at the lowest level in 22 months on Friday due to broad selling after weak US jobs data stoked fresh fears of a global macro-economic slump.
Arabica futures for July delivery dropped 3.15 cents, or 2%, to close at $1.5750 per lb, the lowest level since July 2010 for the spot position. For the week, the spot contract tumbled 6.1%, its sharpest weekly slump since early March. Despite gains in some months, global coffee exports have been under pressure since October due to low opening stocks following record shipments in the 2010-11 coffee year and a projected fall in output in the current crop year. Global coffee exports surged 11% to a record 104.5 million bags in 2010-11. Global coffee production in the current year is expected to fall 4.3% to 128.5 million bags due to a smaller harvest in Brazil and other key growing regions.
