Coffee production in Brazil should amount to 32.46 million sacks in the upcoming harvest (2005-2006). This represents 16.1% less than the 38.6 million sacks gathered in the last harvest (2004-2005).
The data, released on Friday, April 22, are from the National Supply Company’s (Conab) second estimate of the 2005-2006 coffee harvest.
According to the Conab, the reasons for the decline are the reduced production of sacks of Arabic coffee, as a result of the natural variation in coffee harvests – higher one year and lower the next -, climatic adversities, and smaller utilization of fertilizers and pesticides, for lack of resources.
According to Vilmondes Olegário, director of the Coffee Department in the Ministry of Agriculture, the drop in coffee production volume, however, can help sustain price levels.
Crop Financing
Brazil’s Superior Council of Agriculture and Livestock Raising (Rural Brasil), integrated by representatives of both the productive and cooperative sectors, estimates that US$ 31.6 billion (81.4 billion reais) will be necessary to finance the 2005/2006 crop.
The estimate will be the basis for the Agriculture and Livestock Raising Plan for the next two years, and is part of a proposal given earlier this month to the Minister of Agriculture, Roberto Rodrigues.
Of this total, US$ 26.6 billion (68.6 billion reais) will finance costs and commercialization of cotton, rice, beans, manioc, corn, soy, sorghum, wheat, castor beans, Arabica coffee, sugarcane, and cacao.
According to the head of the Economic Department of the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock Raising (CNA), Getúlio Pernambuco, volume resources available to the rural sector need to be 75.2% higher than what was available in 2004.
ABr