Brazilian coffee exports yielded US$ 3.4 billion between March 2006 and February this year. According to the Brazilian Coffee Exporter Council (CeCafé), this is an all-time record for a 12-month period. A total of 28 million 60-kilogram bags of coffee were exported.
According to CeCafé, in February alone, foreign sales amounted to US$ 284 million, with 2.1 million bags sold. In the first half of this year, the number of bags exported reached 4.4 million, against 3.6 million during the same period in 2006.
"The figures match the expectations and point to a gradual, moderate recovery," said the general director of CeCafé, Guilherme Braga, according to a press release published by the organization.
According to CeCafé, the results show not only an increase in the amount exported, but also in the price of the commodity in the international market.
From 2003 to 2006, Brazil produced 143.6 million bags of coffee, according to data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply.
From that total, 103.1 million were exported, generating a US$ 9.4 billion revenue in the period. Domestic consumption stood at 60.6 million bags.
According to a government official, the budget of the Coffee Economy Defense Fund (Funcafé) was R$ 4.155 billion (US$ 1.9 billion) between 2003 and 2006, of which R$ 16.4 million (US$ 7.6) went into advertising and R$ 33.3 million (US$ 15.5 million) went into research.
The funds of Funcafé invested in research included the genome sequencing work developed by Embrapa.
"The sequencing will allow for Embrapa to detect, for example, the strengths of different varieties of coffee regarding their resistance to drought, to plagues and diseases, their flavor, aroma, and productivity," explained Costa Lima. The information was supplied by the Ministry of Agriculture.
