Brazil's government has authorized the country's first-ever imports of robusta coffee, at the request of the instant coffee industry, and it should soon start taking delivery of limited amounts from Vietnam, an agriculture ministry official said on Thursday.
Silvio Farnesi, a director in the ministry's coffee department, said the government foreign trade agency known as Camex approved the imports at a meeting on Wednesday. They will be subject to a 2 percent tariff and can begin as soon as the measure is published in Brazil's official gazette, Farnesi said in a Reuters interview. Imports will be made under an special quota of up to 1 million 60-kg bags that runs through the end of May, with a limit of 250,000 bags per month.
"The issue is already decided at Camex. It now hinges only on the official publication," said Farnesi when asked to clarify the approval process.
Brazil is the world's largest producer and exporter of green coffee and also the No 1 exporter of instant coffee. It produced a record arabica coffee crop in 2016. But robusta output fell to the lowest since 2004 after droughts in the main producing state Espirito Santo.
Arabica coffees are mostly used to produce ground roasted brands, while the robusta type is largely used for instant or soluble coffee production. Brazil's instant coffee industry asked for the imports, saying robusta stocks were extremely thin and that it was turning down orders from foreign buyers.
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