Coffee stocks in Brazil, the world's top producer and exporter, were at 9.82 million 60-kg bags at the end of the 2017/18 crop, 0.4 percent less than at the same time a year ago and the lowest level since 2012, according to a report on Thursday. A study produced by Brazil's agricultural statistics agency Conab said stocks of arabica coffee at the end of the 2017/18 crop were at 8.96 million bags, while stocks of robusta coffee were at 867,557 bags, considering positions at the end of March.
Conab said end stock levels remained stable despite lower 2017/18 production of 45 million bags, which could mean that Brazil lost share in the global export market. The country is expected to harvest a record crop in 2018/19, forecast by the government at 58 million bags. The agency said most of the stocks were in the hands of private companies and cooperatives, with farmers holding only marginal volumes.
The government has only a small volume of 128,000 bags of arabica, which was not added to the total since the objective of the study is to estimate private coffee stocks.