SAO PAULO: Brazil’s 2023 coffee crop is expected to reach 54.94 million 60-kg bags, a 7.9% increase from the previous year, government food and statistics agency Conab said on Thursday in its first estimate for the new season.

Despite 2023 being an “off-year” in the biennial arabica coffee cycle that alternates years of high and low production in Brazil, the fresh crop is likely to surpass last year’s output as the 2022 crop was impacted by previous drought and frosts.