Colombia's 2020 coffee harvest to hit record value $2.33bn

BOGOTA: Colombia's coffee harvest is expected to reach a record value of 9 trillion pesos ($2.33 billion) in 2020, Finance Minister Alberto Carrasquilla said on Wednesday.

The projected value represents a 23.3% increase on the year before, when the harvest generated 7.3 trillion pesos.

"We expect the value (of the coffee harvest) will hit a record in 2020," Carrasquilla said in an online presentation during the annual conference of the National Association of Colombian Coffee Exporters (Asoexport).

Colombia is the world's largest producer of washed arabica coffee and the value of this year's harvest will receive a boost from a combination of favorable international prices and the depreciation of the Colombian peso against the dollar, according to the National Federation of Coffee Growers.

Colombian coffee closed at $1.10 per pound on the New York market on Tuesday.

Exports at the end of 2020 are predicted to reach between 12.7 million and 13.4 million 60-kilogram bags, compared to 13.6 million bags last year, the finance minister said, based on estimates from the National Federation of Coffee Growers.

Colombia, known for its smooth, high-quality coffees, expects a harvest this year of around 14 million bags, down from a 27-year high of 14.8 million bags in 2019, which benefited from good weather and increased productivity.

The South American country is the third largest coffee producer in the world after Brazil and Vietnam. Coffee is grown across roughly 880,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) and about 560,000 families depend on the industry.