Coffee shipments from Honduras, Central America's top exporter, totaled 339,566 60-kg bags during the month.

"The performance of August exports is due to the decline in grain production due to low prices in the world market impacting farmers," said IHCAFE Vice President Dagoberto Suazo.

Coffee exports in the first 11 months of the current 2018-2019 harvesting season reached 6.63 million bags, compared with 6.92 million bags in the same 11-month period during the 2017-2018 season, down about 4%, according to the IHCAFE numbers.

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.