Colombia’s coffee production is set to disappoint this year. Already down 4% to 4.5million bags, compared to 4.7 million bags last year, the country, in fact, on a 12-month rolling basis, is down a full 10% to 12.4 million bags compared to 12 months earlier, when they produced 13.8 million bags of some of the worlds most favourite Arabica.
The numbers for this year’s annual production should be taken into consideration of the issues faced by the industry in May 2021, when the country’s logistics faced major disruption when roads were blocked, and farmers were unable to get their product to the ports during a time of political unrest.
Looking at the YTD numbers (January to May), which removes May 2021’s abnormality, the picture improves. Production is still down, but only by 4%, with 4,477,000 60KG bags against last year’s 4,664,000.
Comparing the same YTD period, exports actually jumped 2% to 4,927,000 60KG bags compared with 4,854,000 last year.
Colombia is the second-largest producer of Arabica and the largest of washed mild Arabica in the world. The earlier drop in production and exports, combined with the frost and environmental challenges in Brazil, have been some of the main drivers behind the high price of Arabica.
Photo source: UN Women | Flickr