CORRECTED Brazil port bottlenecks prevent export of 2 million coffee bags, Cecafe says

Oct 17, 2024

Oct 16, 2024 at 12:58 pm GMT

Corrects to 'million reais' (not 'billion reais') in paragraph 9 after Cecafe clarification

SAO PAULO, Oct 16 (Reuters) -Port logistics bottlenecks in Brazil have prevented more than 2 million 60-kg bags of coffee from being exported in the first nine months of 2024, exporter group Cecafe said on Wednesday.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Brazil is the world's largest producer and exporter of coffee, having shipped 36.43 million bags so far this year - a 38.7% increase from the same period a year earlier, despite the logistic issues.

BACKGROUND

Coffee exporters have reported persistent logistics bottlenecks in Brazil, with Cecafe previously pointing out that issues have increased in the second half of the year due to a lack of space in local ports.

Ongoing geopolitical conflicts have also been mentioned by the exporters group as a problem for exporters.

BY THE NUMBERS

From January to September, Brazil piled up 2.16 million bags of unshipped coffee bags worth an estimated $580.55 million, the exporter group said.

According to Cecafe, coffee exporters have faced 5.94 million reais ($1.04 million)of extra costs this year due to logistics bottlenecks.

KEY QUOTE

"These bottlenecks reveal that our ports have not developed at the same pace as our agricultural sector and have inadequate structures for container cargo," Cecafe technical director Eduardo Heron said in a statement.

($1 = 5.6895 reais)

Reporting by Leticia Fucuchima; Editing by Gabriel Araujo and Louise Heavens