TEGUCIGALPA: Coffee exports from Honduras, Central America's top producer, will total 4.6 million 60-kg bags during the upcoming 2013/2014 harvesting season, the country's national coffee institute IHCAFE said on Wednesday.
The new estimate represents a 5.3 percent increase compared with exports during the current 2012/2013 season, which are seen reaching 4.37 million bags when the season ends at the end of this month.
The coffee season in Central America and Mexico, which together produce more than one-fifth of the world's arabica beans, runs from October through September.
While the new forecast marks an increase over last season's exports, both are much lower than 2011/2012 shipments, which totaled 5.4 million bags.
Central America's major coffee-producing countries are all grappling with the spread of roya, or coffee leaf rust, which is expected to reduce production by 16 percent during the current season.
"(More) exports during the new season will also be possible due to new areas dedicated to coffee farming that will begin to produce," IHCAFE director Rene Leon told Reuters, calling roya a "grave disease".
Leon added that 2014/2015 coffee exports are expected to total more than 5 million bags.
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