Honduras closed its 2009/10 coffee harvest on Friday with 4.6 percent more exports than the previous cycle, the national coffee institute said. But as the harvest wound down, exports in September dropped more than 50 percent from the same month last year.
Global supplies of high-quality arabica beans like those grown in Central America are tight ahead of the coming harvest, which begins next month helping push prices to a 13-year high in September. Last month, Honduras exported 22,911 60-kg bags of coffee, 55.6 percent less than September last year as producers have shipped most of their coffee already, the institute, known as IHCAFE, said.
"There were good prices this year so coffee left the country without speculation that prices would rise later. That's why in September there are not a lot of exports," IHCAFE board member Dagoberto Suazo told Reuters on Friday. Honduras exported 3.16 million 60-kg bags of coffee in the October-September period, IHCAFE said.
The country expects to export 3.45 million bags next season, Suazo said. Honduras as of September 2 expected to produce 3.83 million 60-kg bags of coffee in the 2010/11 season, up 6.4 percent from previous harvest. Below is a table of coffee exports in 60-kg bags from the Central American country during the current cycle which began last October, compared to the same month in the previous year.