Honduran coffee sales from October 2022 to July 2023 reached a total of $1.27 billion (approximately €1.16 billion), reflecting a 4.2% decrease compared to the same period in the previous season, which recorded $1.33 billion in sales, as reported by the Honduran Coffee Institute (Ihcafe) on Thursday.
The volume of coffee exports during this reference period rose to 6.25 million quintals (46-kilo bags), representing a significant increase from the 5.56 million quintals exported during the same interval of the previous harvest, which spans from October to September, according to Ihcafe’s report. Although income from coffee exports decreased by 4.3% in the first 10 months of the 2022-2023 harvest, the volume surged by 12.4%, making Honduras the largest coffee producer in Central America.
Honduran Coffee Exports Decline in Value but Surge in Volume
Sales contracts for coffee totaled 6.66 million bags, marking a 14% increase compared to the 5.85 million bags during the same period in the 2021-2022 harvest.
During the current harvest, the average price of a quintal of coffee stood at $203.07, a decline of 18.9% from the $238.53 quoted in the same period of the previous harvest, as detailed by Ihcafe.
Among the main buyers of Honduran coffee in the current harvest were the United States, Germany, and Belgium, accounting for over 58.6% of the total grain sold thus far. Following closely were Italy (5.3%), Canada (5%), Japan (3.7%), Sweden (3.7%), the Netherlands (3.1%), the United Kingdom (2.9%), and France (2.3%).
The coffee industry holds significant importance for Honduras, contributing to over 5% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and almost 30% of the agricultural GDP, according to official figures. Approximately 100,000 coffee producers are involved in this sector, with 90,000 of them being small-scale producers.
Moreover, the coffee industry generates around one million jobs in various processes such as collection, wet and dry milling, and transportation.
Based on Ihcafe’s estimates, Honduras anticipates exporting approximately 7.2 million quintals of coffee in the current harvest, with an expected revenue of around $1.6 billion.