As a result of the imbalance reported in world trade flows due to the pandemic, Nicaraguan coffee producers have been affected by the shortage of containers facing the country.
Because of the lack of investment in recent years in the maintenance of the coffee park, in the first three months of the current harvest in El Salvador a 46% year-on-year drop in the volume of coffee production is reported.
Figures from the Salvadoran Coffee Council (CSC) indicate that from October to December 2019, nearly 358,000 quintals of coffee have been harvested, a volume that is lower than the 668,000 quintals produced in the same period in 2018.
Natural or legal persons who wish to register as exporters with the Honduran Coffee Institute will no longer have to comply with the requirement to prove a minimum share capital of $1 million.
Directors of the Honduran Coffee Institute (Ihcafe) reported that the market commission had been managing the proposal since 2018, which was already approved by the National Coffee Council (Conacafé).
With a few weeks to go before the end of the 2017/18 agricultural cycle, entrepreneurs in the sector project that production will amount to 1 million hundredweight less than initially expected.
In a complicated context, with international prices at record lows and rising local production costs, Honduras is projecting less grain production for this cycle.
In Guatemala the union of producers has stated that a reduction in international prices is affecting the sector, which is already facing difficulties in covering production costs.
The National Coffee Association attributes the problem to international consortia, which may be exerting further downward pressure on grain prices.They warn that this situation will have a strong impact on the national economy, because with current prices, producers are not even able to cover their costs.
The sector union foresees that for the 2017-2018 harvest foreign currency generated from sales abroad will fall by 14% with respect to the previous season.
Explained by a drop in the average price per hundredweight of exports, which fell from $145 in the 2016-2017 season to $123 so far in the current harvest, the Honduran Coffee Institute (Ihcafé) envisages a 14% decrease in income from sales abroad.
After a slight increase in the first month of 2018, in February international prices fell by 1%, due to the negative behavior of three groups of the Arabica variety.
From the monthly report by the International Coffee Organization:
After a slight rise in January following a three-month decline, the monthly average of the ICO composite indicator fell by 1.2% in February 2018 to 114.19 US cents/lb.
In the first nine months of 2017, countries in the region exported $2.795 million worth of coffee, 29% more than was sold during the same period in 2016.
Figures from the information system on the the Coffee market in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with the graph"]
Government and representatives of the sector have announced the creation of a work commission that will focus on defining new strategies to boost the coffee activity in the country.
Representatives from the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN) and coffee producers held a session in which they agreed to work together on various issues that impact on the activity of the sector, among which, are the effects caused by pests.
Up until March 5, the volume exported from the current 2017/18 harvest amounted to 3.6 million bags, 17% more than was reported on the same date of the 2016-2017 cycle.
According to figures from the Honduran Coffee Institute (Ihcafe), the value of sales of the grain abroad showed a behavior contrary to the volume exported. "...The value of exports is $446.5 million, showing a decrease of 1% compared to $450.5 million."
In the last five years, the average price of coffee exported by countries in the region fell by 33%, going from $226 to $151.
Figures from the information system on thethe Coffee market in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit atCentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with the graph"]
In Costa Rica, twelve farms are now using experimental technology to reduce the cost of weed control from approximately $250 per hectare to $50.
Through the use of small tractors or modified motorcycles which have arms attached to them to perform fumigation, atomization, weed control and fertilization tasks at an early stage, Costa Rica is managing to reduce labor costs in coffee plantations.For example, "... it is estimated that the time it takes to atomize one hectare, for example, can be reduced from the current day and a half to barely an hour."
Up to February 1 2017, exports totaled 2 million bags of 46 kilos, an increase of 41% compared to the same period in the 2015/2016 harvest.
From a report by the Honduran Coffee Institute:
Exports to date total 2,025,986.39 bags of 46 kg, an increase of 40.88% compared to the 1,438,099.70 recorded in the same period in 2015-2016.The value of exports is 292.94 million showing an increase of 60% compared to the 177.83 million recorded on this date in 2015-2016.
The largest producer of washed Arabica coffee increased its harvest in the last twelve months by 3%, reaching 14 million bags each weighing 60 kilos.
From a statement by the National Federation of Coffee Growers in Colombia:
The General Manager of the FNC celebrated production levels and coffee prices and invited coffee growers to take advantage of them to plan for the future.He also recalled that current price levels are offsetting losses in the first half of the year. In the last twelve months Colombia coffee exports amounted to 12.39 million bags.
With trust funds planned for this year still not liberated, the union is negotiating with entities such as the CABEI and the IDB to obtain new sources of funding.
The National Coffee Association (Anacafe) estimated at $955 million the amount needed to renew 60% of coffee plantations, and although "it may seem very high," Alexander Keller, vice president of Anacafé, says that"...