Shipments from the largest coffee exporter in Central America totaled some 972,969 60-kg bags in June, compared with 567,759 bags in the same month last year, according to a preliminary report from IHCAFE.

Cumulative October-through-June exports totaled 5.9 million bags, or more than a third more than the 4.3 million bags shipped during the same period of the previous cycle.

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.

IHCAFE expects exports to grow by 40 percent during the current 2016/2017 season to reach 7.2 million bags as the region recovers from an earlier outbreak of the tree-killing roya fungus.