Colombia's coffee growers federation said on Friday that bean production would be 8 million 60-kg bags this year, worse than earlier predictions about the impact of heavy rains on output. This is the third consecutive year that coffee production in the world's top producer of high-quality Arabica beans will fall below the federation's target as bad weather, fungus and a tree renovation program cut output.
"This year we'll close at 8 (million bags), one million less than the goal, due to the rains," Luis Genaro Munoz, head of the federation, told reporters on the sidelines of an agriculture conference in Colombia's capital. "Without a doubt the rainy season hit the sector hard."
That output level is less than the estimate given by the federation earlier this month of 8.5 million sacks - the official target for 2011 was 9 million bags. Too much rain can damage key flowering stages, knock beans off trees and wash away roads that are the only way the product can get to ports - the United States and Japan are the main destinations for Colombia's beans.
The government's weather office expects downpours due to the La Nina weather phenomenon to last until the first quarter of next year - the rains have been pelting the Andean nation almost without relief since 2010. While production is expected to fall, the crop value may rise 25 percent this year to 5.5 trillion pesos ($2.88 billion) versus the previous year as bean scarcity pushes up prices.
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