Jakarta, Jan 16 - Indonesian coffee exports rose 36 percent to about 437,000 tonnes in 2008 from the previous year, trade data showed on Thursday.
Industry officials said higher coffee prices and a bumper harvest, supplemented by stocks left over from 2007, accounted for the increase.
"Prices were so strong last year. That should have encouraged exporters to sell coffee," Rachim Kartabrata, executive secretary of Indonesian Coffee Exporters Association (AEKI), told Reuters.
But he said it was unlikely that Indonesia's coffee exports would see such "fantastic growth" again this year.
"Carry-over stocks should be much smaller this year and prices have also fallen," Kartabrata said.
Prices of Indonesia's robusta beans were 16,250 rupiah ($1.46) per kg <COFFEE/ASIA1> on Thursday, down 35 percent from a peak of over 25,000 rupiah per kg in March 2008.
Indonesia, the world's fourth-largest coffee producer, exported 437,000 tonnes of coffee beans in 2008, up from 321,404 tonnes in 2007, data obtained by Reuters showed.
By value, coffee exports jumped 50 percent to $956.86 million in 2008, from $636.42 million in 2007.
Robusta accounts for 85 percent of Indonesia's coffee bean output, while aromatic, higher-value arabica makes up the rest.
Beans are shipped out mostly from Panjang port in Lampung province, Surabaya in East Java, and Belawan in North Sumatra.
Coffee bean exports from Panjang port jumped 66 percent to 303,680 tonnes in 2008, from 183,070 tonnes in 2007, while the value of exports nearly doubled, rising to $586.56 million from $301.64 million.
Bean exports from Surabaya surged 26 percent to 63,293 tonnes in 2008, from 50,231 tonnes a year earlier. The export value rose 44 percent to $143.49 million from $99.38 million.
But bean exports from Belawan fell 10.5 percent to 61,638 tonnes in 2008 from 68,849 tonnes a year before, while the value of exports slipped to $207.84 million from $209.75 million. Higher-value arabica coffee accounted for about 90 percent of the beans shipped out via Belawan.