Colombia produced in april 566,000 bags of 60 kilograms of coffee, a drop of 25% compared to the 750,000 bags registered in the fourth month of 2022, industry sources reported this Thursday.
The drop, said the National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC) in a statement, is due to the “excess rain and lower levels of fertilization”.
“The reduction of the harvest is explained by the increase in rainfall in the coffee zone, after three years of the La Niña phenomenon, to which are added lower levels of fertilization product of the high prices of this important input”, added the information.
The FNC further noted that Colombia, world’s largest producer of mild washed Arabica coffee, produced 3.26 million bags in the first four months of 2023, which represented a decrease of 6% compared to the 3.46 million bags in the same period last year.
Similarly, in the last 12 months production fell by 9%, 10.9 million bags when in the same previous period it had added 12 million bags.
“And so far this coffee year (October 2022-April 2023), the production it touched 6.2 million bags, 11% less compared to the almost 7 million bags of the same previous period,” the agency detailed.
On the other hand, the exports in April they were 719,000 bags, a drop of 15% compared to the 848,000 bags in the fourth month of the previous year.
“Throughout the year, exports were close to 3.4 million bags, 15% less compared to the almost 4 million bags exported in the same previous period. In the last 12 months, exports fell 9%, 10.8 million bagsversus the 11.9 million exported a year earlier,” added the information.
Meanwhile, exports in the coffee year “exceeded 6.2 million bags, a 14% less than the almost 7.3 million bags shipped abroad in the same previous period”.