According to data provided by the planters community, India’s Arabica coffee production will drop by 30% and robusta by 20% this crop season ending January due to excessive rainfall, plant damage, bean splitting and berry dropping.
According to the post-monsoon estimates of the Coffee Board, India’s production of arabica in the current crop year was expected to be 99,000 metric tonnes and robusta 2.35 lakh metric tonnes.
However, coffee plantations have suffered significantly due to incessant rains since September, reducing yields in Arabica (30%) and Robusta (20%), said the Karnataka Planters’ Association (KPA), which accounts for over 80% of coffee. Represents producers. Country.
“Excessive rains played a bad game for coffee plantations across the country. Due to the early blooming rains in February, the crop was ready for harvesting in October instead of November. KPA President S. Appadurai said a large quantity of berries are spitting in the open or falling before harvesting.
the cost of production rises
In addition, the cost of coffee production has been increasing by 10%-15% annually as wages and input costs were rising steadily. Some three years ago the production cost of Arabica per acre was in the range of ₹50,000- ₹55,000 and now it has increased to ₹85,000/acre. The production cost of Robusta also increased from ₹30,000 to ₹60,000/acre as per KPA.
There has also been considerable reduction in yield due to irregularities in nature and loss of plants due to white stem borer disease. For example, the Arabica plantation per acre currently provides only 200 to 250 kg of coffee, compared to 400 to 500 kg a few years ago. 450 to 500 kg of robusta coffee is grown per acre as against 600 kg earlier.
brazilian frost
The supply crunch from Brazil’s frost and a jump in prices in international coffee markets came as a relief to Indian coffee growers, who are battling an existential crisis.
As a result, Arabica prices have risen from ₹12,500 to ₹13,000 per 50 kg bag from ₹9,000 to ₹9,500 in the last coffee season. However, the price of robusta remains in the range of Rs 6,000 per 50 kg.
Ramesh Raja, President, Coffee Exporters Association of India, said, “We expect this price trend to continue throughout the season without any drastic fluctuations, unless the bulk of our crop is shipped by March next year. go.”
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