Colombia produced 7.8 million bags of coffee in 2011, the lowest production in 36 years, announced the National Federation of Coffee Growers Monday.
This figure, the lowest annual production since 1976, represents a 12% drop in annual output from 2010 when 8.9 million bags were produced.
According to coffee growers federation Fedecafe, the low production is the result of the strong winter rains and heavy flooding caused by La Niña weather phenomenon in the last two years.
This affected the the coffee growers and the infrastructure of the coffee industry by aiding the spread of the roya plant fungus and making road transport more difficult.
However, the value of the annual coffee crop rose to $2.67 billion which represents a 13% increase on 2010’s figure of $2.40 billion, and Colombia coffee exports for 2011 stand at 7.7 million 132lb sacks.
“Fortunately the income to the producer mitigated the effect of the difficult climatic situation that Colombia and the coffee sector faced during 2011,” said Luis Genaro Muñoz Ortega, general manager of Fedecafe.
Colombia is Latin America’s second largest coffee producer after Brazil. Coffee is one of the country’s main export products.
