Brazil's coffee exports reached an all-time record in October, climbing 21 percent to 3.11 million bags from 2.57 million bags in the same month last year, the Council of Green Coffee Exporters said on Monday. The now-finished 2010 harvest was a high-output year in the biennial high-low coffee cycle, making greater volumes available for export this year.
Guilherme Braga, head of the exporters council, said shipments hit a record for the second consecutive month, after reaching 2.99 million bags in September. The previous record was 2.96 million bags in December 2008, he said. A rise in arabica prices which hit their highest level in 13 years in New York on Monday, raised revenues in the world's top coffee grower by more than 50 percent in October to $637.6 million, compared with a year ago, from only a 21 percent increase in volume.
Exports have risen despite congestion problems at Brazil's top coffee port, Santos, whose terminals are stretched to the limit with rising volumes of cargo. Some exporters say ships have been setting sail without their coffee as terminals had been unable to process their loads quickly enough.
"Terminals aren't able to accept all the cargoes arriving ... We are obliged to pay to put these containers in other parts of the port, meanwhile," said Ronaldo Taboada, in charge of logistics at Santos Commercial Association and also a coffee exporter. He said the situation appeared stable, with delays neither lengthening or shortening. The imminent end to the 2010/11 sugar cane harvest in Brazil's centre-south should relieve some of the pressure, exporters said.