The Brazilian Coffee Industry

6 Pages 1530 Words

g on weather condition, approximately 30 million bags of coffee beans are exported annually from Brazil while domestic consumption is approximately 9 million bags, which makes Brazil the world's third largest coffee-consuming country. Approximately 85% of Brazilian coffee exports are Arabica coffee, which is considered to be of higher quality than Robusta coffee and which demands higher prices. Coffee exports are the third largest Brazilian exporting product, which generated $2.74 billion dollars in 1997. It is estimated that 3.5 million hectares (1.3 million acres) are used for the production of coffee by 320,000 coffee farms (fazendas de café), 75% of which are less than 10 hectares (25 acres) in size1.
Brazilian coffee is characterized by diversity in tastes depending upon geographic regions of the coffee's origin. Arabica coffee from Santos is considered to be the top grade Brazilian Arabica coffee and therefore there is brand awareness and increased demand for this grade. Overall though in the international coffee m...