Brazil’s early robusta harvest kicks off in Espirito Santo

Harvest of Brazil’s robusta coffee crop has started in the leading producer state of the bean, Espirito Santo, and is due to pick up speed in the coming weeks, independent applied economics group Cepea said in a report published Tuesday.

Conillon, the local variety of robusta bean, serves principally demand on the local market. Brazil’s larger arabica crop is still maturing on trees and is not due to start harvest until May or June, depending on the region.

Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of coffee, of which arabica makes up the bulk.

Cepea said some early lots of harvested and cured conillon were already available for sampling and sales.

“Under harvest in the past week specifically, robusta prices have weakened a bit,” Cepea’s report said.

Type 6 conillon of screen 13 and above has changed hands at 301.18 reais ($96.16) a 60-kg bag, 1.43 reais lower than a week ago, Cepea sales data research showed.

Espirito Santo has suffered from several weeks of dry weather in early 2015, which is expected to reduce Brazil’s conillon output this year to 13.6 million bags from 16.6 million bags last year, according to exporter Comexim on Monday.

Meanwhile, the country’s arabica harvest is due to recover from last year’s drought to 34.9 million bags from 32.7 million last year, Comexim said.

Suorce: Reuters

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