Brazil's government estimated on Thursday that coffee output in the world's largest producer and exporter fell 12.5 percent in 2017, an off-year in the production cycle. The report by agricultural statistics agency Conab said Brazilian farmers produced 44.97 million 60-kilogram bags this year, compared with 51.37 million in the prior season.
Arabica coffee trees have a biennial cycle that results in the alternation of heavy and light crops, Conab said. Arabica accounts for about three-fourths of Brazil's production, and this year, output slumped an estimated 21.1 percent to 34.25 million bags, the agency said. Average yields dropped in tandem by nearly 19 percent.
On the other hand, robusta production rose an estimated 34 percent to 10.72 million bags as rains returned to fields after a multiyear drought, Conab said. That would benefit local instant-coffee producers that recently struggled to source robusta. While arabica is widely used for ground-roasted brands, robusta is suitable for making soluble coffee.
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