[LINK] "Coffee Harvest in Indonesia Expanding to Record on Rainfall"

[rfmcdonald]

I like coffee. From Bloomberg's Rusmana and Eko Listiyorini:

Coffee farmers in Indonesia, the world’s third-biggest producer of the robusta variety used by Nestle SA, will probably harvest a record crop in the season starting April after rains boosted yields.

Production may increase 18 percent to 650,000 metric tons from 550,000 tons a year earlier, the median of five trader estimates compiled by Bloomberg shows. That would exceed the all-time high of 630,000 tons in 2009-2010 and matched in 2012-2013, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

The unprecedented harvest in Indonesia will add to global supply, potentially pressuring prices. A survey this month showed production could increase to a record in Vietnam, the largest robusta grower. Crop prospects have also improved in Brazil, the second-biggest robusta producer and the top supplier of arabica beans favored by Starbucks Corp.

“There’s fresh optimism that output will rise,” Theng Hong Sioe, a deputy chairman at the Association of Indonesian Coffee Exporters and Industries, said by phone on March 19. “The weather is quite favorable, it’s not too wet or too dry. Hopefully there’s no adverse weather that could hurt the crop.”

[. . .]

The global harvest will expand 7 percent to 152.8 million bags in 2015-2016 and cut the shortage to 1.4 million bags from 8.9 million bags this year, Volcafe Ltd. said last month. Output in Indonesia may climb to 10.9 million bags, it said. A bag weighs 60 kilograms, or 132 pounds.