Honduras coffee exports jump 62 percent in March

TEGUCIGALPA: Coffee exports from Honduras jumped 62 percent in March, compared with the same month last season, the national coffee institute, or IHCAFE, said on Monday, citing increased production.

Shipments from the largest coffee exporter in Central America totaled 1,027,214 60-kg bags in March, compared with 633,594 bags in the same month of the 2015-2016 harvest, according to a preliminary report from IHCAFE.

Cumulative October-through-March shipments totaled 3.22 million bags, up almost 38 percent from the year-earlier period, when shipments totaled 2.34 million bags.

IHCAFE expects exports to grow more than 40 percent this year to 7.2 million bags in the 2016-2017 harvest.

The coffee season in Central America and Mexico, which together produce about a fifth of the world's arabica beans, runs from October through September.