Colombia’s October Coffee Output Slumps on Increased Rain

By Heather Walsh

Bloomberg Businessweek

November 11, 2011

Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Colombia, the second-largest supplier of Arabica coffee beans, said output slumped 19 percent in October because of rain that will cut the 2011 crop to a two- year low.

Output fell to 656,000 bags from 807,000 bags in the year- earlier period, according to an e-mailed statement today from the Bogota-based Colombian National Federation of Coffee Growers. Exports declined to 592,000 bags from 632,000 bags,

Arabica coffee futures have gained about 13 percent in the past 12 months as above-average rainfall in Colombia trims inventories. The South American nation last week cut its 2012 production forecast by as much as 23 percent because of adverse weather.

Output next year likely will be 8.5 million to 9.5 million bags, Luis Munoz, head of the federation, said Nov. 4 in Cartagena, Colombia. This year, the nation will produce 8.5 million bags, down from a prior forecast of 9 million bags, he said, though some growers forecast a smaller crop.

The weather pattern La Nina has triggered rainfall and overcast skies that hamper Colombia’s efforts to increase production from last year’s 8.9 million bags. Each bag of coffee weighs 60 kilograms, or 132 pounds. Production in 2009 fell to 7.8 million bags, the lowest level since 1976.

Arabica coffee for December delivery jumped 3.9 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $2.373 a pound at 2 p.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York.

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Editors: Charles Siler, Steven Frank

To contact the reporters on this story: Heather Walsh at hlwalsh@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net