AR ES SALAAM, March 22 , 2011 - Tanzania expects its 2011/12 (June/April) coffee crop to drop by 18 percent to 45,000 tonnes, hurt by drought in many growing areas of the east African producer, regulator Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) said on Tuesday.
The board expects production to come in at 56,000 tonnes in the 2010/11 season, 1,000 tonnes above its earlier forecast, and compared with 36,000 tonnes of the previous crop year.
"Prolonged dry weather in some coffee growing regions of Tanzania has affected the flowering of coffee trees," Adolph Kumburu, TCB's chief executive, told Reuters.
"Flowers are wilting in coffee trees planted at areas affected by the drought. This will translate into lower overall harvests in the coming season."
Tanzania's coffee usually follows a naturally alternating crop cycle in which a low output year is normally followed by a high output year and vice versa.
"In the current crop year that ends this month, we expect to harvest some 1,000 tonnes more than the projected 55,000 tonnes," he said.
Africa's fourth-largest coffee grower mainly produces arabica coffee and grows some robusta coffee. Beans thrive in the north, south and west of the country in areas around Mount Kilimanjaro and Lake Victoria.
Kumburu said TCB would make further reviews of the estimates for the 2011/12 season in the coming months after the onset of the new crop year.
Tanzanian coffee has been attracting high prices over the past few months as the season draws to an end. Traders say demand has remained strong after tight supplies forced TCB to reduce its coffee auction to every fortnight from weekly*******
