Brazilian Coffee Exporters Lost R$ 51.5 Million With Non-Shipment of Coffee in 2024
CoffeeNetwork (New York) - A volume of 1.826 million bags of coffee – 5,534 containers – were stored in the main Brazilian ports without being able to be shipped in 2024, according to a survey carried out by the Council of Coffee Exporters of Brazil (Cecafé) with associated companies. "The reason for these non-shipments was the high and constant delays and changes in the schedule of ships for export, in addition to frequent cargo rollovers", explains the entity's technical director, Eduardo Heron.
He comments that these obstacles in logistics at Brazilian ports caused a "port loss" of R$ 9.208 million to coffee exporters in December, due to extra costs. From June – when Cecafé started the survey – to December 2024, the accumulated loss of exporters totaled R$ 51.540 million.
Taking into account an average Free on Board (FOB) export price of US$ 304.25 per bag (green coffee) and the average of R$ 6.0964 to the dollar in December, the non-shipment of this coffee implies that Brazil, in the 12 months of last year, lost US$ 555.62 million, or R$ 3.387 billion, as foreign exchange revenue.
According to Heron, logistical bottlenecks also bring losses to Brazilian coffee producers, who are mostly from family farming. Brazil is the country that transfers the most FOB price of exports to its coffee growers and the non-shipment of the product, due to port infrastructure limitations, reduces the transfer of capital to them, he explains.
On the side of the professionals who carry out the shipments, he says that coffee exporters continue to face intense logistical bottlenecks and make great efforts to consolidate cargo due to the increase in shipments of products that use containers to pack their cargo and the lack of adequate infrastructure for containerized cargo in Brazilian ports.
"The challenges in logistics and the losses that our exporters accumulate demonstrate an exhaustion of the port structure and that investments are increasingly urgent to expand yard and berth capacity, improve the conditions of highways, railways and waterways and deepen the draft for the reception of larger vessels,” Heron said.
He also notes that Cecafé has been leading, together with other foreign trade entities, dialogues with public authorities to seek solutions that reduce risks, minimize losses to exporters and enable a rapid improvement in the structure of the ports.
"Our intention is to find measures that meet the growing potential of Brazilian agribusiness, giving more efficiency and competitiveness to exporters and enabling agribusiness to continue generating billions in foreign exchange for the country's coffers," he says.
Last week, Cecafé's Logistics Committee met with the Director of Operations of the Port Authority of Santos (APS), Beto Mendes, and staff, continuing the conversations related to the logistical challenges in coffee shipments through the port of Santos.
"We are pleased to learn that APS has been following the issue of delays, monitoring the information that Cecafé discloses monthly, as well as the fact that the Authority has been making efforts to improve the port structure, such as the projection of investments in the third lane of the Imigrantes Highway, the deepening of the draft with the concession of the canal and the auction of the TECON10, which should take place in the second half of the year,” comments Heron.
DELAYS IN DECEMBER
According to the Zero Detention Bulletin (DTZ), prepared by the startup ElloX Digital, 71% of the ships, or 206 out of a total of 290 container ships, had delays or changes in calls that impacted the result of coffee exports, in the main ports of Brazil, in December last year.
The longest waiting time in the previous month was 56 days, recorded at the largest port in the Southern Hemisphere, in Santos (SP). In addition, 40 ships did not even have a gate opened at the Santos pier.
According to data from the DTZ Bulletin, the Port of Santos, which accounted for 68% of coffee shipments in 2024, recorded an 84% rate of delay or change in ship calls in December, which involved 132 of the total157 vessels.
Also in the previous month, only 9% of the boarding procedures had a period longer than four days of gate opened by ships at the Santos pier. Another 36% had between three and four days and 54% had less than two days.
The port complex of Rio de Janeiro (RJ), the second largest exporter of coffees in Brazil, with a 27.9% share of shipments in 2024, had a delay rate of 56% in December, with the longest interval being 35 days between the first and last deadline. This percentage implies that 32 of the 57 ships destined for shipments of the product suffered a change in stopovers.
Also in the last month of last year, 34% of export procedures had a deadline of more than four days of gate opened by container ships in the ports of Rio de Janeiro; 21% recorded between three and four days; and 45% had less than two days.
Alexis Rubinstein
