The Colombian Coffee Growers Federation recently reported a decline in coffee production and exports due to environmental problems. Colombia is the second-largest Arabica producer in the world and the largest producer of washed mild Arabica.
Registered coffee production in Colombia fell 12% to 888,000 60kg bags of green coffee, compared to more than 1 million bags produced in the same month in 2021. In the 10-month period from January to October, production was over 9 million bags, still down 10% from nearly 10.1 million bags in the same period last year.
In the 12-month period, November 2021-October 2022, production declined by 13% from 13.2 million bags to 11.6 million 60kg bags. The lower figures are due to excessive rainfall over the last 28 months, resulting in excess water, less sunlight and fewer blooms on the coffee trees.
In addition, coffee exports declined by 5% at the beginning of the current coffee year, from 987,000 60-kg bags in October 2021 to 942,000 bags in October 2022. Annual exports fell by 7% to 11.8 million bags from 12.7 million bags in the previous year.
