Coffee exports from Honduras, Central America's top producer, rose 13.3 percent in March compared with the same month last year, the national coffee institute IHCAFE said on Tuesday, while exports from Costa Rica also rose slightly. Honduras exported 747,028 60-kilogram bags in March, up from the 659,037 bags exported during the same month last cycle. That marked the first time in the 2013/14 season that a month's export total has come in higher than the same month in the previous year.
Central America's five major coffee producers, along with Mexico, are all grappling with damage caused by the tree-killing fungus roya, which has destroyed yields across the coffee-growing region. Despite the spike in exports, IHCAFE said it expected exports to soon start falling. Coffee exports from Honduras fell more than 20 percent in the 2012/13 cycle compared with the previous year. IHCAFE has revised down its forecast for the 2013/14 season as a result of the roya outbreak to 4.52 million 60-kilograms bags, down from the previous estimate of 4.6 million bags.