Brazil coffee production drops by 10.3 per cent

Brazil's government crop forecaster Conab released figures on 13 September estimating a 10.3 per cent drop in the country's annual coffee harvest over the previous year.  Total harvest is estimated at 43.15 million bags, 4.94 million bags less than last year.  Conab notes that the droughts in January and February no doubt affected production, damaging crops at critical stages especially in the states of Minas Gerais (South and Cerrado Mineiro), Bahia and Rondônia. The largest reduction was observed in the production of Arabica coffee, with a decline of 13.4 per cent (4.93 million bags). Robusta production decreased by just 0.1 per cent by 8600 bags. A few states saw their production numbers increase, including Espírito Santo and Paraná.