Brazilian farmers are expected to harvest 62.6 million 60-kg bags of coffee in the 2022/23 crop (July-June), an amount that is 1.7 million bags smaller than a June projection, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Tuesday 22 November.
Details
In its second estimate for Brazilian production, the US government agency said coffee trees in the world's largest producer and exporter suffered more than initially estimated with unfavorable climate conditions, leading to smaller yields.
The USDA said all the reduction in its projection came from a 1.7 million-bag cut in the production of arabica coffee, the milder variety favored by coffee chains such as Starbucks SBUX.O and Panera.
The department now expects Brazil to produce 39.8 million bags of arabica, down from 41.5 million bags seen in June.
The US is the world's largest consumer of coffee, while Brazil is its largest supplier.
Brazil's coffee production has been negatively impacted by erratic weather for the last two crops, including last year's strongest frosts in 40 years and the harshest drought in decades.
Robusta Coffee Production Projection
The USDA kept its projection for Brazil's robusta coffee production, the type largely used to make instant coffee, unchanged at 22.8 million bags.
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