Robusta coffee price rally boosts crop expansion in Brazil

SAO PAULO, Sept 7 (Reuters): The two-year robusta coffee rally to record high prices last week has given investors and farmers a rush for that variety in the world's top coffee grower Brazil, experts said.
Brazil has traditionally been the largest producer of arabica coffee, a milder variety preferred by high-end cafeterias such as Starbucks. However, production of robusta, widely used to make instant coffee, has been rapidly growing with high demand and good prices.
"People were already planting more robusta, but with the recent spike in prices it got crazy," said Enrique Alves, a coffee researcher at Brazil's agricultural research company Embrapa in the northern state of Rondonia.
"Robusta seedling producers told me they are at the limit of their production capacity and are not taking new orders," he said.
Robusta futures on ICE Europe rose 58% in 2023 from 2022 and are 68% up this year. The main driveris production problems in Vietnam, the world's largestrobusta grower, where unfavorable weather hurt the crops.
As a result, foreign demand for Brazilian robustas has soared.Exports have risen more than 300% this year when compared with the same time in 2023. Prices for robusta in the local market surpassed those for arabica coffee, which is not typical.
Farmers in the top robusta state of Espirito Santo are replacing arabica trees with robusta ones in some places, said Fabiano Tristao, a coffee researcher at Incaper institute.
"Conilons are climbing the mountains," he said, referring to a similar type of robusta cultivated in the region which is being plantedin higher altitude areas traditionally used to grow arabica.
Robusta acreage in the state has grown14% since 2018, while arabica crops are down18%, data from Brazil crop supply agency Conab showed.
Robusta plantings have also increasedin other traditional arabica states such as Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo, experts said.