ICO increases global crop forecasting

The International Coffee Organization (ICO) announced on Monday it has increased by 0.5% its estimate for world crop product in 2012/13, leaving it at 145.2 million bags (60kg each) thanks to improvements in the coffee plantations in Brazil and Colombia.
The new estimate for this season, which ended on September 30th, indicates a volume 9.6% higher than what was collected in 2011/12, and represents the highest figure ever publicly disclosed this type of assessment, which is made from the harvest 1990/91.
In its monthly report, ICO said that the production of Robusta coffee grew 11.6%, reaching an estimated volume of 56.4 million bags, while Arabica coffee production grew 8.4% to reach 88.8 million bags.
The crop in Brazil, which is the world's largest producer, increased 16.9% to 50.83 million bags.
Colombia, the world's largest producer of washed Arabica coffee, kept the recovery trajectory of their crop, after four years of lower than average yields. The estimate for the crop recently closed in the country stood at 10 million bags, or 30.7% more than in 2011/12.
Already the coffee plantations of Central America and Mexico had a crop 14.7% lower than the previous growing at 17.3 million bags. A fungal disease known as rust contributed.
The report also notes an increase of 74.7% in coffee harvest in Indonesia, and positive outcomes for countries like Ethiopia and Uruguay.
Vietnam, the largest producer of Robusta coffee, crop must have 1.3% less than the previous, in the range of 22 million bags.
At the same time, the overall consumption in calendar year 2012 reached a volume estimated at 142 million bags, up 2.1% compared to 2011, according to the ICO. Over the past four years, the average annual growth of the market was 2.4%.
Source: Revista Cafeicultura