After touching an all time high in 2017-18, Indian coffee shipments suffered a setback during the year-ended March 31, 2019 as a poor crop impacted volumes exported during the fiscal year.
Volumes were down by about 9 per cent over the previous year, impacting overall realisations both in rupee and dollar terms. The dollar term realisation was down by about a tenth, while the rupee earnings were lower by about 3 per cent. However, per-unit realisations went up for the period on account of an increase in instant coffee shipments, exporters said.
“There was little coffee to ship,” said Ramesh Rajah, President of the Coffee Exporters Association, attributing the poor performance to the lower crop during the past two years.
“The outlook for the year-ahead looks bleak as the current (2018-19) crop is lower,” Rajah added.
