SAO PAULO: Brazil, the world’s largest coffee exporter, shipped 2.29 million 60-kg bags of green coffee abroad in June, 19% less than in the same month a year ago, industry group Cecafe said on Wednesday.

Exports of Arabica beans, the milder type preferred by high-end coffee shops, fell 23.3% to 2.06 million bags (see table).

Shipments of robusta coffee, however, increased 60.5% to 230,653 bags as farmers take advantage of high benchmark prices to sell the recently-harvested crop.

Cecafe’s President Marcio Ferreira said it is a good moment for Brazilian robusta growers to sell that coffee for export, before the crop in the world’s largest producer of robusta, Vietnam, starts around November, which will bring some price pressures.

Ferreira also said that relatively lower prices for arabica coffee in the local market, as the harvest progresses quickly, are leading local processors to change their blends, using more arabica and less robusta.

The official said that some roast and ground coffee companies were adding as much as 80% of robusta coffee in their blends some months ago, using only 20% of arabica beans. That, he said, is changing now with blends moving closer to 50%-50%.

Cecafe’s June report marked the end of the Brazilian 2022/23 coffee season (July-June). Total green coffee exports for the season were at 31.8 million bags, 10% less than in 2021/22.

The industry group highlighted the 89% increase in sales to China in the season to 604,269 bags. The Asian country is still a small importer when compared to number 1 buyer United States (6.85 million bags), but shipments to China are rising at a fast pace.