The country is set to harvest a record coffee crop of 3.5 lakh tonnes (lt) for the current crop year 2015-16 that started in October, aided by a favourable weather conditions and timely rains.
This represents a seven per cent increase over the previous season’s 3.27 lt, according to the Coffee Board’s latest estimates.
New high

In its post-monsoon estimates released Tuesday, the Coffee Board has pegged the crop size of Arabicas – the mild and premium variety – higher by about a tenth at 1.07 lt, whereas the output of robusta is set to expand by about six per cent at 2.42 lt. The latest post monsoon estimates are lower by about 1.6 per cent over the initial or post-blossom estimates revealed in June this year.
The marginal decline is attributed to the normal fruit drop at different stages of development.
Conducive climate

Attributing the rise in 2015-16 output to favourable climatic conditions, the Board said the extended North-East monsoon rains last year helped in additional cropping wood for the current season.
Coffee growing areas have received timely and adequate blossom and backing showers and well distributed south west monsoon coupled with good crop husbandry practices adopted by growers have resulted in higher output.
Crop loss

However, the Board has not considered the impact of the recent rainfall in November in Karnataka on the output as the post monsoon crop assessment was completed by end-October.
Rains in November that coincided with the harvest of arabicas are reported to have led to fruit drop of varying degrees.
“The crop loss, if any, due to November rains will be accounted at the time of final estimation, which will be carried out after completion of harvest,” Board said.
While the rise in output this year has mainly come from Karnataka and the non-traditional areas of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, the other producing States – Kerala and Tamil Nadu – are seen contributing marginally.
Karnataka production

In Karnataka, the largest coffee producing State, the post monsoon estimate has put the crop size at 253,340 tonnes, higher by 8.62 per cent over previous year’s final output of 233,230 tonnes.
For 2015-16, the arabica output in Karnataka is pegged at 82,460 tonnes, an increase of 10 per cent over last year, while that of the robustas is also expected to rise by 7.8 per cent to 170,880 tonnes.
While the key growing regions of Kodagu and Chikmagaluru have registered an increase in output by 13 per cent and six per cent respectively, another region Hassan has reported a marginal decline over last year.
In Kerala, which mainly produces robusta coffee, the post monsoon forecast has pegged the output at 68,650 tonnes, a marginal increase over last year’s final estimate of 67,700 tonnes.
Similarly, in Tamil Nadu, which mainly produces arabica coffee, the production is marginal higher at 18,125 tonnes against last year’s 17,875 tonnes.
Non-traditional areas

In Andhra and Odisha, the post monsoon forecast has pegged the crop higher by 21 per cent at 9,700 tonnes over last year’s 7,975 tonnes.
The higher output in these non-traditional states could be attributed to the increase in bearing area of 4,700 hectares, the Board said.
Source : The Hindu Business Line