Brazil

Brazil’s agriculture minister Reinhold Stephanes has said the government will pay coffee growers up to 23% more than the current benchmark for up to 3 million bags of arabica from November 2008 to March 2009 to help push up prices.

Brazil exported around 26.1 million bags of coffee in 2008. The government move will in effect reduce the amount of exportable coffee available in 2009, compounding the effects of a natural decline as most coffee plants enter the slower half of a two-year growth cycle and cost-conscious farmers use less fertilizer which in turn lowers yield.

According to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or Ibge (the Brazilian Census Bureau), Brazil’s 2009/10 coffee crop will come in at 39.9 million bags, up 1.4% from 39.3 million predicted earlier. It estimates that 2,406,466 ha is planted with coffee and productivity is predicted to be 18.45 bags per ha.