India’s robusta coffee production is likely to lower by around 13,000 tonnes than official estimates in the current financial year due to rains in the commodity growing regions of Karnataka, which accounts for around 70 per cent of the country’s total production.
The domestic coffee production for 2006-07 was placed at 2.88 lakh tonnes when compared to 2.74 lakh tonnes in the previous year, an increase of 5.1 per cent. The post-blossom estimates for 2007-08 by the Coffee Board has placed the production at 2.91 lakh tonnes. “However, there are doubts whether the post-blossom estimate would hold good due to heavy rains and the incidence of white stem borer”, Karnataka Planters’ Association Chairman Jeffry Rebello told reporters ahead of the annual coffee conference of KPA on Tuesday.
In Karnataka, the total coffee production for 2006-07 was 2.06 tonnes — 80,250 tonnes in arabica and 125,750 tonnes of robusta.
