Jakarta, June 5 - Indonesia's coffee exports from the main coffee-growing area of Sumatra rose to 29,059.21 tonnes in May, up 66 percent from a year ago, trade data showed on Friday.
However, bean exports for the first five months declined 4.5 percent to 83,457.44 tonnes from the same period a year ago.
"A jump in May exports was mainly because this year's harvests started earlier than last year's," said Suherman Harsone, chairman of the Lampung chapter of the Indonesian Coffee Association.
He said this year, farmers picked cherries in April and as a result, exports surged in May, while in 2008, the harvests started in May.
Separately, Hassan Widjaja, the chairman of the Indonesian Coffee Association, said that shipments last month may have included beans held over from previous months.
Indonesia, the world's second-biggest robusta producer after Vietnam, exported 437,000 tonnes in 2008, up from 321,404 tonnes in 2007, on a combination of higher coffee prices, a bumper harvest, and stock left over from 2007.
The industry expects exports to fall 30 percent this year as the global crisis cuts demand and softer global prices take a toll.[ID:nSP406045]
Robusta mostly grows in Lampung, Bengkulu, and South Sumatra provinces -- known as the coffee triangle -- at the southern end of Sumatra island.
Following are details of the exports from Lampung, Bengkulu and South Sumatra through Bandar Lampung's Panjang port:
EXPORT 2009 2008 Pct chg
(tonnes) (tonnes) (y/y)
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January 14,657.84 13,932.68 5.2
February 10,494.92 24,180.61 -56.6
March 12,007.25 15,207.74 -21.0
April 17,238.22 16,537.67 4.2
May 29,059.21 17,551.51 66
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Total 83,457.44 87,410.21 -4.5