Coffee Board Secretary and CEO KG Jagadeesha said nature played a critical role in coffee farming and if plantations get 6-7 months without a dry spell, next year’s yield would be substantially higher than the last two years.
India’s coffee production for the crop year ending in March 2025 is likely to be 3.52 lakh metric tonnes, while the yield for next year is expected to be much higher than last two years’ yield as most plantations have already received adequate blossom showers helping a healthy berry setting, said Coffee Board CEO and Secretary, K.G Jagadeesha.
However, he further said, nature played a critical role in coffee farming and if plantations get 6-7 months without a dry spell, next year’s yield would be substantially higher than the last two years.
He further said, that mounting costs is a worry for coffee plantations in India
Quoting International Coffee Organisation (ICO), Jagadeesha said, global coffee prices were likely to remain high for one more year as most major producing countries were facing drastic climatic changes.
“The current coffee prices may hold for one more year with marginal growth, however may not double or treble as they did a couple of years ago for arabica and robusta, respectively. I just attended the ICO meeting and this is the sense I am getting regarding prices,” he said.
Output may be ‘significantly lower’ in 2024. Globally, coffee prices remained low for over a decade before they started climbing two years ago.
India should focus on premiumisation in coffee :
Highlighting the importance of value addition in coffee, Jagadeesha said, some 70% of Indian coffee were exported as green beans which meant the country has been losing out on premiums.
“We are producing the best quality coffee in the world and selling it as green beans in the global markets and someone else is blending, value adding and achieving premiums. This situation has to change by increasing our focus on value addition to fetch premium prices in the global markets. Some of our growers have already started focusing
on value add and premiumisation, but the trend has to become industry-wide,” he insisted.
According to Jagdeesha, post covid, there is a spurt in coffee consumption globally and this trend has been quite evident in India as well.
Coffee Board Chairman M.J. Dinesh said additional strengthening of the domestic market was required to protect coffee growers in the wake of any international price fluctuations.
“A robust domestic market will provide a shield to the coffee growers against the volatile international coffee prices. It will also encourage entrepreneurship and boost employment opportunities and bring in overall improvement in the coffee value chain. Such a scenario will act as a buffer for Indian coffee,” he added.
