Brazilian coffee exports fall 20.3% in May due to logistical hurdles

Brazilian coffee exports in May totaled 2.616 million 60kg bags and generated US$ 357.6 million of income for the country. Compared with the same month last year, the performance represents a drop of 20.3% in volume and 13.2% in foreign exchange revenue. This information comes from the monthly statistical report of CECAFÉ (the Brazilian council of coffee exporters).

According to the organization’s president, Nicolas Rueda, May exports were impacted by ongoing logistics hurdles, including a lack of containers and space on the ships, and by the adjustments that have been made towards modernizing the issuance of International Coffee Organization (ICO) certificates of origin, a requirement for when the product is shipped.

“The export volume is at a record high for the harvest, which reflects a record harvest in 2020/21 and the extremely high competitiveness of Brazilian coffee abroad. In May, the only reason the volume was not higher was due to the logistical hurdles related to the lack of bookings and containers, resulting from congestion in many Asian and North American ports. This is due to the high demand for food and other products in these regions caused by the pandemic”, Reuda explains.

Another factor that interfered with the May results is the adequacy of the criteria for calculating shipments of certificates of origin, required for coffee exports, approved by the ICO, which will now consider the date of bill of lading (BL) and no longer customs clearance. “With shipments considering the BL instead of the customs clearance, the export figures for CECAFÉ, SECEX (Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Economy), and the ICO itself tend to adjust and become very similar,” he concludes.

The following graph provides a history of Brazilian coffee exports since 2019, according to DataLiner:

Brazilian Coffee Export (HS 0901 and 2101) | Jan 2019 to Apr 2021 | TEU

Graph Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Record harvest

Even a month before the end of the 2020/21 season, Brazil has already set a record in exported volume during one harvest. From July 2020 to the end of May this year, the country shipped 42.5 million bags abroad, which represents an increase of 14.3% over the same previous interval and surpasses the 41.4 million bags registered in the 12 months of the 2018/19 cycle until then the highest level of coffee shipments in the country.

Foreign exchange revenue from shipments of coffee abroad in the 11 months of the 2020/21 harvest totaled US$ 5.406 billion – the best level in the last five years – and an increase of 12.8% in comparison with the resources obtained from shipments from July 2019 to the end of May 2020.

Year to Date

In the first five months of 2021, Brazilian coffee exports totaled 17.767 million bags, equivalent to an average of 3.5 million bags per month, setting a record for exports in the period. This volume represents an increase of 5.1% compared to the period between January and May 2020, when the country shipped 16.9 million bags to its international partners. In the accumulated result for this year, Brazilian coffee shipments also generated a record US$ 2.359 billion of sales, a growth of 4.9% over last year.

Main importers

In 2021, the United States continues as the main importers of Brazilian coffee, purchasing 3.402 million bags, a growth of 2.2% compared to the same period in 2020. Next comes Germany, with 3.211 million bags (+6.7%); Italy, with 1.311 million (-13%); Belgium, with 1.276 million (+11.1%); and Japan, with imports of 981,400 bags (+15.2%).

Worth mentioning is the 50.6% growth in Brazilian coffee exports to producing countries, which imported 1.222 million bags in the first five months of 2021. Referring to only green coffee, this increase is even more impressive, reaching 84.5%, with other coffee-growing nations increasing imports of fresh coffee beans from 522,200 to 963,300 bags. The Arab countries imported 777,000 bags in the period, up 20.8% year-on-year.

Types of coffee

Brazil exported 2.652 million bags of differentiated coffees (those with superior quality or a certificate demonstrating sustainable practices) from January to May, a volume that represents 14.9% of total shipments in the period. The average price of this product was US$ 172.05 per bag, which generated resources in the order of US$ 456.4 million in the five months, equivalent to 19.3% of the total revenue generated in the interval.

Arabica coffee was the most exported by Brazil between January and May 2021, with 14.7 million bags shipped abroad, or 82.6% of the total. The second-best performance was registered by the instant coffee segment, which shipped 1.545 million bags (8.7% of the total), followed by canephora coffee (robusta and conilon), which totaled 1.528 million bags exported (8.6%).

Exporting ports

Santos remains the main outlet for coffee in Brazil in 2021. From January to May, 13.9million bags left the port of São Paulo, representing 78.4% of total shipments. Next come the ports of Rio de Janeiro, with the shipment of 2.6million bags (14.9%), and Vitória (ES), with 501 thousand bags (2.8%).

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