By the year's end shipments of specialty coffees will reach 7 million 60-kg bags, compared to 1 million in 2005, Guilherme Braga, the director of Brazil's Council of Green Coffee Exporters, Cecafe, told Reuters.
Helped by rising prices, producers have invested vigorously in equipment to wet-process their coffee, yielding mild-tasting semi-washed or washed arabicas similar to those that have brought acclaim to prestigious coffee grower Colombia.
Braga said the 7 million bags included both milder tasting, wet-processed coffees, both washed and semi-washed, as well as finer natural coffees. The number included any coffee trading at least 25 percent above the price of hard cup, a respectable but undistinguished category of bean.
Cecafe did not have a breakdown of how many of the 7 million bags were washed or natural, but was able to specify that washed coffees, usually the most expensive type available, accounted for 750,000 bags.
The trade estimates total semi-washed and washed coffee output at up to 5 million bags a year. Semi-washed processing is catching on much quicker among Brazilian growers than the technically-demanding washed process.
"Our presence has grown quickly in specialty coffees ... I think Brazil is performing well in this area, and as specialty varieties are in demand and trade at a premium, producers are taking a positive approach to preparation," Braga said.
Importers have been increasingly reliant on Brazil to source mild coffees after three successive disappointing Colombian harvests.
A shortage of coffee, as supplies lag demand growth particularly for specialty and mild coffees, have kept arabica prices It is the more expensive grades that have seen the biggest price increases on physical markets.
Brazilian arabicas will also be deliverable against the New York ICE exchange's arabica futures contracts from March of 2013. (Reuters)
