SAO PAULO: Brazil's 2018 coffee crop should reach 53.2 million 60-kg bags, 14.9 percent more than last year, mostly due to a positive year for arabica in a biennial production cycle, statistics agency IBGE said on Thursday.
The agency said arabica production will be 41.4 million bags, 18.6 percent more than in 2017. Robusta output is seen at 11.78 million bags, up 3.8 percent from last year as this type of coffee is not subject to the sharp variations in productivity typical of arabica trees.
IBGE, which publishes agriculture production indicators alongside Conab, the food supply and statistics agency linked to the Agriculture Ministry, said arabica yields are expected to increase by 21.2 percent in 2018.
Robusta coffee fields will continue to recover from a severe drought in Espirito Santo state, the main producer. IBGE sees productivity gains of 2.6 percent for robusta fields in 2018.
The agency also sees a 2.2 percent reduction in the arabica planted area in Brazil this year to 1.469 million hectares, from 1.503 million hectares in 2017, but did not elaborate on possible reasons for the decline.
Conab, a more widely used reference for agricultural production projections out of Brazil, will release its first estimate for the new coffee crop on Jan. 18.
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