ICO raises forecast for 2016/2017 world coffee crop

[LONDON] The International Coffee Organisation (ICO) raised its forecast for world coffee production in 2016/2017 on Thursday to an all-time high of 153.9 million 60-kg bags, from a previous projection of 151.6 million.

"This is mostly due to an increase in output from Indonesia, revised up from 10 million bags to 11.5 million, and a significant revision to Peru to 4.2 million bags," the ICO said in a monthly update.

The crop was seen 1.5 per cent higher than the prior season.

Total production of arabica coffee was put at 97.3 million bags, up 10.2 per cent from 2015/2016, while robusta output is expected to be 10.6 per cent lower at 56.6 million.

The ICO put consumption in 2016/2017 at 155.1 million bags, representing a 0.3 per cent dip from the prior season driven by a 1.4 per cent fall in North America.

A smaller global deficit of 1.2 million bags was forecast for 2016/2017, down from a deficit of 3.9 million in 2015/2016.

REUTERS