Patchy pre-monsoon rains may pare India coffee output
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
NEW DELHI, April 27 (Bloomberg): Patchy pre-monsoon showers in some parts of India's main coffee-growing regions may hurt the crop this year, state-owned Coffee Board said, likely paring sales from Asia's third-biggest producer.
Rainfall over the southern states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu was not "consistent and uniform," said G.V. Krishna Rau, chairman of the board. The agency will announce its post- blossom forecast by the middle of May, he said in an interview.
A decline in shipments from India, which exports almost 70 per cent of its output, may help Vietnam and Indonesia increase sales just as demand in the US and Japan, the largest and third-biggest buyers, recover from the worst postwar recession.
"Showers in April have not been widespread this year as they usually are," Anil Bhandari, a member of the board and a grower, said from Bangalore. "There has not been enough back up rain to aid fruit-bearing in some areas."
India's coffee production in the year ending Sept. 30 will rise 10 per cent to 289,600 tons this year, the board said Dec. 14.
Rainfall over the southern states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu was not "consistent and uniform," said G.V. Krishna Rau, chairman of the board. The agency will announce its post- blossom forecast by the middle of May, he said in an interview.
A decline in shipments from India, which exports almost 70 per cent of its output, may help Vietnam and Indonesia increase sales just as demand in the US and Japan, the largest and third-biggest buyers, recover from the worst postwar recession.
"Showers in April have not been widespread this year as they usually are," Anil Bhandari, a member of the board and a grower, said from Bangalore. "There has not been enough back up rain to aid fruit-bearing in some areas."
India's coffee production in the year ending Sept. 30 will rise 10 per cent to 289,600 tons this year, the board said Dec. 14.