Coffee exports from Costa Rica rose 12.5 percent in February in their fifth straight month of increases compared to last year as producers try to quickly sell beans to take advantage of high prices.
Costa Rica, known for its top-quality arabica coffee, expects 2010/11 coffee production to rise as much as 5.4 percent above last season's crop after damages from heavy rains proved to be less serious than originally thought.
The Central American country sees output at between 1.55 million and 1.57 million 60-kg bags, a jump from the 1.49 million produced last cycle. Exports in the first five months of the coffee year, which began in October, rose 18.6 percent compared to the same period last year.
"The producers are taking advantage of the high prices. We are selling on average at $70 above what we were paid last year," Ronald Peters, director of the country's national coffee institute known as Icafe, told Reuters.
May arabica futures <KCc2> hit their highest level in three decades on Feb. 22 at $2.7840 per pound and prices have doubled since June 2010. Most of Costa Rica's coffee is exported but some is consumed internally.
Below is a table of coffee exports in 60-kg bags from Costa Rica:
MONTH EXPORTS OF 60-KG BAGS OF COFFEE
2009-2010 2010-2011 PCT CHANGE
OCTOBER 22,807 34,003
NOVEMBER 32,200 50,531
DECEMBER 71,090 76,322
JANUARY 118,229 137,912
FEBRUARY 149,958 168,680 +12.5
MARCH 211,780
APRIL 161,086
MAY 157,245
JUNE 132,631
JULY 79,019
AUGUST 43,715
SEPTEMBER 12,026
TOTAL 1,191,788
TOTAL (OCT-FEB) 394,284 467,447 +18.6
*Some figures are preliminary and may be subject to revision
