Opinion – Shuttle: War affects soluble coffee exports, but revenues are record

Russia and Ukraine, two important importers of soluble coffee from Brazil, stepped on the brakes on purchases in 2022. Placed in 2nd and 7th places in 2021, they dropped to 8th and 31st, respectively, in 2022.

It wasn’t just the war in Eastern Europe that caused a drop in exports. World economy at a slower pace, bottlenecks and high logistics costs, inflation and rising prices of raw materials affected exports. Consumers with lower income reduced purchases.

Some countries, however, surprised. Among them Myanmar, which rose to the 7th position among importers of the Brazilian product, according to Aguinaldo Lima, director of Institutional Relations at Abics (Brazilian Association of the Soluble Coffee Industry).

Other surprises are Indonesia and Colombia, countries that are at the top of world production. The Colombians, due to their commercial performance and the good image they have achieved in the international market, import from Brazil to trade abroad, says Lima.

With a stability of 60 years, the Brazilian soluble coffee industry attracts foreign buyers because it has technology, achieves greater extraction and creates products according to the customer’s needs, says the entity’s director.

The apprehension of the market, however, is with a possible loss of competitiveness in relation to competitors. This occurs when the raw material is more expensive in the domestic market than in the foreign market. Seeking coffee abroad can be a way out, but there are always extra costs, according to Lima.

Exports of soluble coffee fell to 85.9 thousand tons last year, after having reached 94.4 thousand in 2021. The drop in 2022 interrupts a sequence of four consecutive years of increase in foreign sales.

The United States, Argentina and Indonesia were the main markets for the Brazilian product. Finland also gained several positions in the ranking by buying 3,628 tons, 433% more than in 2021. Russian imports, on the other hand, retreated 65%; and the Ukrainians, 73%.

According to Abics, with greater supply and diversity of products, the domestic market for soluble coffee is also growing. In 2022, 999,000 bags were consumed, a historic record.

Green coffee exports also had a lower volume than in 2021, but revenues rose to US$ 8.5 billion, with an evolution of 47%, according to data from Secex (Secretary of Foreign Trade).

Foods The cost of food dropped to 0.89% in the third quadrissemana this month, the lowest rate of the year. The drop is due to the loss of pressure from meat and fresh products in the index.

Food 2 According to Fipe (Fundação Instituto de Pesquisas Econômicas), beef had a decrease of 0.4% in the last 30 days; pork, 0.7%; and poultry, 2.4%. The onion dropped 27%. Already the milk, after a period of retraction, rose again in supermarkets.

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