In Freight News 07/04/2015
Coffee exports from Honduras, Central America’s top producer, spiked 46.4 percent in March compared with the same month last year, the national coffee institute IHCAFE said. Coffee shipments in March reached 901,311 60-kg bags.
The export growth was due to output from late-maturing plantations in some parts of the country as well as an ongoing recovery from the tree-killing fungus roya, also known as coffee leaf rust, IHCAFE Vice President Dagoberto Suazo said.
Exports during the first six months of the current 2014/2015 harvesting season totaled 2.56 million bags, up nearly 30 percent compared with the 1.98 million bags shipped during the same six-month period in the previous 2013/2014 season.
Honduras expects to export 4.8 million bags this season, up from shipments of 4.1 million bags during the 2013/2014 cycle. Central American and Mexican coffee farmers have grappled with major damage caused by roya in recent seasons, but output across the region is expected to rebound in 2014/2015.
The coffee season in Central America and Mexico, which together produce about one-fifth of the world’s arabica beans, runs from October through September.
