Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Coffee production in Colombia, the world’s second-largest supplier of arabica beans, shrank to a 35-year low after excess rainfall, diseases and a lack of sunshine curbed output.
The harvest tumbled 12 percent to 7.809 million bags in 2011, the lowest level since 1976, from 8.923 million bags a year earlier, Colombia’s National Federation of Coffee Growers said in a statement yesterday in Bogota. The crop missed the growers’ November target of about 8 million bags of 60 kilograms (132 pounds) each.
Arabica futures futures have rallied 4.7 percent on ICE Futures U.S. in New York since Dec. 16 on reduced supplies from Colombia. Farmers will have a “very hard” time this year increasing production if adverse weather persists, Federation Chief Executive Officer Luis Munoz said in November.
Exports from Colombia declined 1.2 percent to 7.73 million bags in 2011 from 7.82 million bags, according to the statement. Arabica coffee is grown mainly in Latin America and favored for specialty drinks such as those made by Starbucks Corp.
The La Nina weather event that caused flooding and landslides last year has abated this month, Mines Minister Mauricio Cardenas said last week.
The 2011 crop was less than a harvest of 7.812 million bags in 2009, when wet weather led to a 32 percent decline in the crop. Brazil is the largest producer of arabica beans.
--Editors: Thomas Kutty Abraham, Jake Lloyd-Smith
To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Walsh in Bogota at hlwalsh@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net
