ICO raises estimate of 0.3% in world coffee production for 2012/13

The International Coffee Organization (ICO) said the prospect of record production in Brazil during the cycle of low productivity is offset concerns about the spread of the fungus roya, which causes rust of coffee trees in plantations Central America.
According to the organization, producing regions of the country had a large amount of rain in January, after several weeks of below average rainfall. Coffee production in Brazil follows a biennial cycle of high and low productivity. During the last decade, yields poor productivity cycles were between 9.6% and 16% below the output of the immediately preceding cycle. In 2013, however, the difference may be only 1.3%, according to the National Supply Company (Conab).
The ICO said that rust outbreaks were reported in all the major producing countries of Central America. Costa Rica declared a state of emergency to deal with the spread of the fungus, while Guatemala and El Salvador are providing fungicides to farmers. Nicaragua has recently launched a campaign to train experts and producers against the fungus, and Honduras declared a state of emergency plant.
The outbreak of rust, according to the ICO, can have serious long-term implications for the production of washed Arabica in Central America, such as the possible loss of a volume between 2.5 million and 3 million bags.
Source: Agrosoft