Brazil exported 2.50 million bags of green coffee in May, down 8 percent from a year ago as the harvest reached more than 20 percent of the crop, the association of coffee exporters Cecafe said on Tuesday. Brazil exported a revised 2.87 million bags of coffee in April. Cecafe said in its monthly report that arabica beans accounted for 2.09 million 60-kg bags of last month's shipments, while robusta beans accounted for 404,561 bags.
In the same month a year ago, Brazil exported 2.51 million bags of arabica and 213,502 bags of robusta, or conillon as it is known locally. Analysts and exporters expect Brazilian coffee exports to slow in the coming months, after reaching exports of 36.9 million bags over the 12 months ending in April. Privately held stocks of coffee in the world's largest producer are expected to reach their lowest in several years by early 2016 due to the lingering effect of a severe drought in early 2014.