Sluggish rainfall may lower coffee output by 8%

The country’s coffee production is projected to slip by 8 per cent to 3.20 lakh tonnes in the 2016-17 marketing year due to sluggish rains, state-run Coffee Board said. Coffee production in India, the world s sixth largest coffee producer, has touched a record 3.48 lakh tonnes in the ongoing 2015-16 marketing year (October-September).

“The post blossom crop forecast for 2016-17 is placed at 3.20 lakh tonnes. This is an overall decrease of 8.05 per cent over the final production estimate of this year,” the Coffee Board said. Of the total, production of Arabica variety of coffee is estimated at 1,00,000 tonnes in 2016-17 as against 1,03,500 tonnes this year, while that of Robusta is pegged at 2,20,000 tonnes as against 2,44,500 tonnes in the said period, it added.

“The reduction in post-blossom estimate of 2016-17 could be mainly attributed to the delayed blossom and backing showers coupled with high temperatures especially in major coffee growing areas of Karnataka and to some extent in Kerala,” the Board said.

Apart from adverse weather conditions, the 2016-17 is an off-year for coffee crop in the country as the current year happened to be a bumper year with an all-time record of highest crop, it observed.