Brazil, the world’s largest coffee producer, will be forced, for the first time, to buy a significant amount of the product from competitors, due to crop failure.
The Brazilian government has opened a four-month window for imports of robusta coffee, generally used in the production of soluble coffee, reported daily Folha de São Paulo.
The product is expected to come from Vietnam, the largest producer of the variety.
Last week, the Foreign Trade Secretariat authorised the importation of one million bags of robusta coffee – 250,000 bags a month between February and May – with a 2% tax.
In comparison, during 1997-2017, Brazil imported only 7,000 bags (each weighing 60 kilos).
With the shortage, the price of soluble coffee rose 14.9% in the 12 months leading up to January, according to the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, while coffee powder was up 20%.
However, the decision to import coffee has been criticised by coffee producers in the state of Espirito Santo, who claim to have stocks of four million bags.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
