In the 2023-2024 harvest 221,671 quintals of coffee have been exported, 31.4 % lower than the same period in the 2022-2023 cycle.
Coffee exports have been reduced by 101,410 quintals in the 2023-2024 harvest, equivalent to a fall of 31.4 %, according to the latest report of the Salvadoran Coffee Institute (ISC).
The report, published on June 27, notes that 221,671 quintals have been exported in the 2023-2024 harvest between October 2023 and April 2024, far from the 323,081 reported in the same period of the 2022-2023 cycle.
These exports left producers revenue of $46.85 million, down from $25.5 million from the $72.3 million reported in the same period of the previous cycle, 35.2 percent reduction.
Previously, both the ISC and the producers had explained that the fall in exports is due to a lower harvest in the first months of the cycle since coffee growers delayed short work due to a change in the rain pattern. In a note published in April, the ISC said the grain was kept in storage in the wineries of the beneficiaries pending the final processing for sale to the international market.
According to the history of the ISC, the months of greatest export range from February to July of each year.
Historical fall in volume
The Central Reserve Bank (BCR) reports that between January and May 2024 $61.29 million was exported in coffee, equivalent to $24.05 million (28.1 per cent) less than $85.3 million than in the first five months of 2023.
This year’s coffee exports have fallen back to 2021 levels, when they added $61.3 million.
The volume exported exceeded 13.02 million kilograms, an unprecedented figure in the BCR register, dating back to 1994.
According to the Central Bank, the volume of coffee exported this year fell by 25.4 per cent compared to the 17.4 million shipped in the first five months of 2023.
The ISC details that in the short 2023-2024 the quintal of Salvadoran coffee has been sold at an average price of $211.37, 5.6 percent lower than the $223.91 of the previous harvest. This responds to a lower price of aromatic on the market through Contract C, where references are made for the sale of the grain of the producing countries.
Destinations of aromatic
History books place that the United States became the main trading partner of El Salvador in the early 20th century precisely because it increased its coffee purchases, a position it still maintains.
According to the ISC, 51 percent of the coffee exported from the 2023-2024 harvest went to the United States, with 112,289 quintals. The volume shipped was reduced by 150,703 quintals, by 57.3 per cent, compared to the amount sent in the same period of 2022-2023.
Italy is the second largest buyer of aromatic, with 16,739 quintals equivalent to 8 per cent, followed by Belgium with 16,387 quintals, a 7 % share.
This article has been translated after first appearing in Diario El Mundo