Between the 2011-2012 and 2016-2017 harvests, the difference between the average price per quintal of the country's exports and the international market price of grain has more than doubled, from $25 to $54.
According to Investing.com data and figures provided by the Coffee Institute of Costa Rica (Icafe), during coffee year 2011-2012 the average value of a 46 kg bag of coffee on the New York Market was $198.12 and the average price of Costa Rican exports was $222.76, reflecting a difference of $24.64.
In Honduras it has been reported that the $80 million that will be granted to the coffee sector is in the stage of consultation, risk analysis and verification of loan conditions.
Representatives of the Honduran Coffee Institute (Ihcafé) reported that two banking entities presented their proposals to manage the financing, which will be under the modality of syndicated credit, which consists of several institutions lending the funds, but only one will manage them and establish the conditions.
Coffee growers in Guatemala estimate that production in the agricultural cycle that is about to end will totol 4.3 million hundredweight, above the 4.2 million hundredweight reported in the 2016-2017 harvest.
Forecasts by the National Coffee Association (Anacafé) indicate that for the upcoming 2018-2019 harvest, production could be located at 4.5 million gold hundredweight (46 kilos sacks), which would mean a continuation of the recovery phase.
In the first eight months of the year the country generated $381 million from exports of the grain, 14% less than the $445 million reported in the same period in 2017.
According to figures from the Export Procedures Center (Cetrex), a decrease was also reported in relation to the volume exported for the period from January to August of this year, compared to the first eight months of 2017, in this case a drop of 3%.
In order to deal with the difficulties caused by the low international price of the grain, the Honduran government plans to make resources available to 120,000 coffee producers.
The Honduran presidency reported through a statement that one of the decrees, approved by the National Congress at the proposal of the Executive, creates the Special Guarantee Fund for the Coffee Sector with an initial contribution of 300 million lempiras ($12.7 million) from the Honduran Bank for Production and Housing (Banhprovi), which will provide 2,400 million lempiras ($101.9 million) in reciprocal guarantees, which will serve to propitiate operations of twice that value ($203.8 million).
Prices for all coffee groups fell in July 2018, though the largest month-on month decrease occurred for Brazilian Naturals, which declined by 4% to 110.54 US cents/lb.
From the monthly report by the ICO:
In July 2018, the ICO composite indicator price decreased by 2.9% to an average of 107.20 US cents/lb, which is the lowest monthly average for July since 2007, when the monthly composite indicator reached 106.20 US cents/lb.
In June, the country exported 34,000 tons of coffee, registering a fall of 25.5% compared to 46,000 tons sold in the same month in 2017.
The price of coffee also recorded a decline, according to figures from the Center for Procedures for Exports (Cetrex), in June this year $150 per hundredweight was paid, representing a decrease of 10% compared to the $167 paid in the sixth month of 2017.
In the last six years the average export price of Central American coffee has been trending downwards, with the price per kilo falling from $4.51 in March 2012, to $3.10 in the same month in 2018.
Figures from the information system on the Coffee Market in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with graph"]
Due to the climatic conditions predicted for the months of July and August, an increase is expected in the presence of the disease in coffee plantations in Costa Rica.
During July there is a typical decrease in rainfall known as "la canícula", a period in which Rust progresses slowly and the emergence of new lesions is less.However, at the same time there is a greater presence of spores in the lesiones favored by the warmer temperature and by weaker and less frequent rains.This situation will promote a largeincrease in the disease in the majority of the Costa Rican coffee plantations when more abundant rains return starting in August, reported the Coffee Institute of Costa Rica (Icafé).
In Congress, work is being done on a bill that would create a research institute, long awaited for by local coffee growers.
The deputies announced that they are working in the Assemblytogether with the Coffee Table, on the request by producers to create an institution that will carry out research to improve the sector's productivity.
In Costa Rica, the decree that authorizes the cultivation of coffee of the robusta variety in low altitude areas is now in force.
The decree was published on May 16 in the newspaper La Gaceta, and will be controlled by the Coffee Institute of Costa Rica (Icafé), to "... avoid a mixture of crops in the areas, avoid the joint processing of the two varieties and determine through tests which types of Robusta are best adapted to the country."
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.
Last year coffee sales in Central American countries totaled $3.035 million and grew by 27% compared to 2016, in contrast to the fall recorded between 2015 and 2016.
Figures from the information system on the Coffee Marketin Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData : [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with graph"]
Up until April 30, the export value of the current 2017/18 harvest was $680 million, 13% less than was reported on the same date in the 2016-2017 cycle.
According to figures from the Honduran Coffee Institute, the registered decrease is due to the fact that "... The average export price per hundredweight to date is $122.74, compared to the average price of 2016-2017 of $145.26, down 16%."
In the 2016/17 agricultural cycle coffee production amounted to 130,000 hundredweight, registering an increase of 8% compared to the previous harvest.
The Comptroller General of Panama reported that "... coffee activity for the 2016/17 agricultural year produced a harvest of 130,100 piled tons, and when this crop was compared with the 2015/16 agricultural year, which was 120,100, an increase was observed of 10,000 piled hundredweight, largely due to the fact that in the cultivations there is a large number of productive trees declared for this year and good flowering in the province of Chiriquí, which represented 79.5% of the total of the national harvest."