18 April 2008 - Brazil has increased roasted coffee grain and roasted and ground coffee exports by 145% in the first quarter of this year in comparison with the same months in 2007. Sales reached 1,700 tonnes. In the first quarter of the year, Brazil exported 694,600 tonnes of the product.
"This trade growth shows that the companies are doing very well in the beginning of the year," evaluated the president of the Brazilian Coffee Industry Association (Abic), Guivan Bueno. Brazil has been exporting these two kinds of coffee, considered industrialized, since 2002.
According to information disclosed by the Abic, for this advance to take place, export promotion actions developed by the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) and support by the Ministry of Agriculture were necessary.
Sales of industrialized coffee, which totalled US$ 4 million in 2002, reached US$ 26.6 million last year. From January to March this year, they reached US$ 9.2 million, triple the value in the same months in 2007.
The average price of exported industrialized coffee has also risen. It climbed from US$ 4.36 per kilogram to US$ 5.45. "This shows that industries continue adding value to the product and are being successful in the export of better quality coffees," stated the executive director at Abic, Nathan Herszkowicz.
The companies participating in the project developed by the Apex and Abic alone answered to 72% of exports in the first quarter of 2008. "In the same period in 2007, we were responsible for 24%," said Christian Santiago e Silva, the program coordinator.