Brazilian coffee exports to China soar by 154%

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Coffee exports from Brazil to China increased exponentially last year. On February 9, the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafé) reported that Brazilian exports to China increased by 153.9 percent in January compared to the same month in 2023.

Last year, China became the sixth largest buyer of Brazilian coffee, up from 20th place in 2022, according to Cecafé’s annual report.

Brazilian producers sold 1,480,011 60-kilogram bags to China last year, compared with 390,879 in 2022.

Globally, Brazilian coffee exports in January reached 3,960,678 60-kilogram bags, a volume that set a historical record, with an increase of 39 percent more than those exported in January 2023. China has been Brazil’s main trading partner since 2009.

According to Cecafé, this improvement in commercial performance is due to the fact that “we are currently in the winter of the northern hemisphere and coffee consumption increases,” but it is expected that the Brazilian production chain can continue to supply the Chinese market as it has done.

This uncertainty is due to the fact that Brazil’s global coffee exports decreased by 0.4 percent compared to the previous year, as 39,246,728 60-kilogram bags were sold internationally, compared to 39,409,993 in 2022.

According to the president of Cecafé, Márcio Ferreira, the performance of last year’s shipments is positive, considering the obstacles experienced by the entire production chain.

“The first half of the year was characterized by more limited exports due to lower coffee availability following two smaller harvests in 2021 and 2022, which were affected by adverse weather conditions. In addition, the export segment continues to face logistical obstacles that affect performance. Without these logistical issues, we would probably export up to 2 million bags more,” said Ferreira.

In addition to this slight decrease of 0.4 percent, Cecafé said that revenues of $8 billion were 13 percent lower than the record registered in 2022. The decline was due to a drop in exports to other prominent buyers such as the United States, Germany, Italy, and Belgium.