AFRICA – The latest report from the International Coffee Organization (ICO) shows that Ethiopia is the main driver of the Africa region’s double-digits growth in the 2023/24 coffee calendar year.
Ethiopia’s exports soared by 63.5% to 5.59 million bags in coffee year as compared with 3.42 million bags in coffee year 2022/23.
Theis is the largest exports on record for the origin, and it is also the first time the 5.0 million bags ceiling has been surpassed after the resolution of internal contract disputes, which had led to export shipments being delayed in coffee year 2022/23.
In general, exports of all forms from Africa rose 17.3% to 16.02 million bags from 13.66 million bags in coffee year 2022/23.
Meanwhile, the global green bean exports for coffee year 2023/24 were up 11.8% to 123.75 million bags from 110.72 million bags in coffee year 2022/23, an absolute increase of 13.02 million bags.
The double-digit increase in coffee year 2023/24 represents a recovery, and not necessarily an expansion, of the long-term trend. This is the biggest annual increase on record, surpassing the previous highest of 9.27 million bags in coffee year 1995/96.
The world exports of green beans have been increasing at an average of 2.36 million bags every coffee year between coffee years 2010/11 and 2020/21, while there was an increase of only 1.69 million bags annually between coffee years 2020/21 and 2023/24.
Exports from South America in the 2023/24 were up 30.7% to 66.13 million bags from 50.59 million bags in coffee year 2022/23. The region’s two largest producers and exporters, Brazil and Colombia, saw their total exports jump by 34.3% and 13.7%, respectively, to 49.03 million bags and 11.91 million bags.
For Brazil, these are the largest exports on record due to the gap in the market created by Vietnam in the Robustas market.
Although it is not widely acknowledged, Brazil is the second largest Robustas producer in the world, accounting for 32.0% of global supply in coffee year 2022/23.
In the same calendar year, exports of all forms of coffee from Mexico & Central America were down 4.1% to 14.51 million bags from 15.13 million bags in coffee year 2022/23.
The downturn was primarily driven by Honduras and Nicaragua, which suffered from decreases of 12.1% and 16.5%, respectively.
Vietnam, the largest producer and exporter in Asia & Oceania, was the main driving force behind the Asia & Oceania region’s annual downturn.
Exports of the region were down 6.7% to 40.62 million bags from 43.54 million bags in coffee year 2022/23, with Vietnam’s exports decreasing by 11.7% to24.96 million bags.
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