New Delhi (PTI): Global coffee exports declined slighlty by one per cent to 141.4 lakh bags in the first two months of the crop year 2008-09, even as India's overseas shipments rose by 9.6 per cent to 3 lakh bags.
India exported 2.27 lakh bags of robusta variety of coffee and 81,581 bags of mild coffee during the current coffee year that runs from October to November, the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) said in a statement. One bag is equal to 60 kilo.
A significant decline in shipments from Indonesia seem to have contributed to a marginal fall in the total global exports. Indonesia, one of the top global exporters, recorded 7.25 lakh bag exports during October and November of the crop year as against 9.45 lakh bags in a year-ago period, ICO data showed.
Even the countries like Cameron, Congo and Papua New Guinea exported a lesser quantity of coffee in the review period, it said.
Nevertheless, Brazil, the world's largest coffee exporter, shipped 54 lakh bags, up by 15.38 per cent from previous year. Also, Uganda, Tanzania and Equaldor exported higher quantity of bean at 4.45 lakh bags, 97,284 bags and 61,449 bags respectively, according to ICO.
On international coffee prices, the coffee body had said in a recent report that prices fell by over 17 per cent in the first two months of the crop year affected by the financial crisis.
"Coffee prices fell sharply during the month of October in the context of the financial crisis, which seems to be exerting downward pressures on virtually all commodity prices," ICO had said.
More than 50 developing countries depend on coffee as an export, with 17 countries earning 25 per cent of their foreign exchange from coffee.
Source : The Hindu