SAO PAULO: Brazil, the world’s largest shipper of instant coffee, is boosting its exports to Southeast Asia, targeting local rivals there that include top producer Vietnam.A bumper crop of robusta beans, used in instant coffee rather than the more costly arabica beans, and the devaluation of Brazil’s currency has given the country’s exports a cost advantage over the last year and a half.
“The industry won’t stop for maintenance at this year’s end as it usually does,” said Guimaraes, who is also commercial director at Cia Cacique de Cafe Soluvel, a Sao Paulo-based instant coffee producer. “Export demand has been warming due to the Southeast Asia market.” Meanwhile, Brazil, already the king of arabica coffee, is poised to take over the top spot for robusta beans, according to Carlos Mera, a London-based analyst for Bankbook International, known for its agricultural research.In Brazil’s Rondonia state, plantings of new robusta tree varieties are churning out annual yields of 200 bags to 300 bags per hectare, Mera said.
Southeast Asia accounts for about 20% of Brazil’s instant coffee shipments. Indonesia and Myanmar are Brazil’s biggest instant-coffee customers in Southeast Asia, according to Abics.