Lower prices pushed India’s coffee export value down 5% during 2019 even though the total volume was slightly higher.
Exports were valued at $794 million during the calendar year, according to a Hindu Business Line report. Total value in 2018 was set at about $836 million. The numbers were cited by the Coffee Board of India.
The slight increase in export volume was attributed to higher re-exports, according to the report. Lower-priced coffee beans were brought in from other countries such as Vietnam, then processed and exported as value-added products like instant coffee. Re-exported coffee was up about 2,000 metric tonnes in 2019 over the previous year. Exports of Indian-grown coffee was down only slightly.
Italy bought about 72 metric tonnes of Indian coffee, the report stated, accounting for a fifth of India’s total export in 2019. Russia was the largest buyer of instant coffee at 28,573 tonnes.