Fall in international coffee prices affect producers worldwide

The current situation of falling international coffee prices is of concern because it harms producers in the world, says in a statement the executive director of the International Coffee Organization (ICO), the Brazilian Robério Oliveira Silva, referring to the strike of Colombia's coffee growers, who are asking for more government aid and a competitive exchange rate. According to a survey of the OIC, the average monthly price of Colombian coffee dropped from 244.14 U.S. cents per lb to 161.57 cents, the equivalent of 34% in the last 12 months. In the same period, the price of coffee ICO declined to 131.39 cents, 28% lower than in February 2012. Robério Silva says that the price drop is a market situation, "that can not be controlled by a single market participant, alone." He notes that the volatility in prices causes serious economic problems along the supply chain for coffee, and undermines more than 120 million small farmers in more than 50 countries around the world who depend on income from coffee and who have limited access the risk management instruments. The Colombian coffees are prized worldwide for their quality. Colombia is the fourth largest producer of coffee after Brazil, Vietnam and Indonesia, producing 7.6 million bags in 2011/12 harvest. The world coffee exports increased by 19.48% in January compared with the same month of 2012. Were shipped 9.667 million bags compared to 8.091 million bags in January 2012. The International Coffee Organization (ICO) released the information today. The world exports in the first four months of coffee year 2012/13 (October 2012 to January 2013) grew by 15.8% to 37.87 million bags, compared with close to 32,690,000 of sacks in the previous period. Over the past 12 months ending in January 2013, exports of Arabica totalled 67.08 million bags, compared with volume of 66.11 million bags in the previous year. The shipment of Robusta in the period was 47.59 million bags compared to 37.68 million bags.
Source: Revista Cafeicultura