The crop was boosted by regular rains in spring, which coincided with the flowering in the producer regions, and the current record, 48.48 million bags in the 2002/2003 cycle, may be exceeded.
Last year the crop totaled 39.47 million bags. The difference of up to 23.3% with regard to current estimates is due, mainly, to the biennial cycle of the culture, with one large coffee crop being followed by a smaller one. This is because the plant needs 12 months to recover before returning to production.
Despite the great volume of coffee produced, the minister of Agriculture, Reinhold Stephanes, believes that the price paid to producers should not drop.
“We have a target of buying up to 10 million bags and have funds for that, to be used as an instrument for good trade and price maintenance, according to the needs and at the right moment,” he said.
To the minister, the banks that finance the activity “will have to be more competent to cause the crop and trade credit to arrive in the hand of producers at the right time.”
Stephanes said he hopes that the problems lived in previous years, with delays in the liberation of funds, have served as a lesson for this year.