Brazil's coffee crop is expected to reach 50.9 million 60-kg bags this year, a volume in the low end of a range between 50.5 million to 54.5 million bags seen in January and 17% off last year's production, government agency Conab said on Thursday.
The world's largest producer and exporter of the beans produced a record crop of 61.6 million bags in 2018. The sharp fall this year is mainly due to the off-year in the biennial production cycle that alternates years of high and low production, Conab said.
The government agency estimated production of arabica coffee, a milder beverage used by processors of high-quality brands, at 36.9 million bags compared to the range in January of 36.1 million to 38.1 million bags. If confirmed, arabica production in 2019 would fall 22% from the 47.4 million bags in 2018.
Production of robusta coffee, a type widely used by the instant coffee industry, is seen at 13.9 million bags versus the range of 14.3 million to 16.3 million bags projected in January. Brazil produced 14.2 million bags of robusta in 2018. Conab said the area planted with coffee in Brazil fell again in 2019, this time by 1.1%, to 1.842 million hectares. It is the lowest planted area with coffee in the world's largest producer since 2007, as continuing low global prices lead some farmers to reduce plantations.