Espírito Santo Exports 8.38 Million Bags of Coffee in 2024, Sets New Record
CoffeeNetwork (New York) – The Commercial Center of Coffee of Vitória (CCCV) in Brazil reported that coffee exports through the Ports of Espírito Santo in 2024 totaled 8,380,636 bags of coffee, a volume just 1.21% higher than the previous record, registered in 2002. The main type of coffee exported, conilon coffee, accounted for 84% of the total volume, equivalent to more than 7 million bags, followed by arábica coffee, which registered 754 thousand bags exported (9%) and soluble coffee, whose volume shipped was 571 thousand bags (7%).
Coffee exports totaled 61% more than in 2023, with 75% more conilon coffee, 10% more arábica coffee and 14% more soluble coffee.
The volume of coffee exported through the ports of Espírito Santo in 2024 represented 17% of all Brazilian coffee exports in the period. In the stratified analysis, the Ports in Espírito Santo accounted for 75% of Brazilian conilon coffee exports, according to data from the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council - Cecafé. Of the 9.4 million bags of conilon coffee exported by the country, 7 million left through the ports of Espírito Santo, a difference of 2.3 million bags.
Five countries imported almost half of all coffee shipped from Espírito Santo ports in 2024: Belgium (12%), Mexico (12%), United States (10%), Italy (8%) and Spain (7%). With the exception of the United States, which acquired significant volumes of both conilon coffee and arábica and soluble coffee, the other four top countries imported mostly conilon coffee. Compared to the previous year, Spain and Italy took the place of the United Kingdom and Indonesia among the top five destinations. In total, 63 countries from all continents traded directly with the Espírito Santo in 2024. 1
In a special analysis of coffee exports to China, a market with strong potential for growth in coffee consumption, from 2023 to 2024 the country rose from 53rd to 26th position among countries importing coffee from Espírito Santo. The increase in the volume imported from one year to the next was 1,729%, exclusively of conilon coffee both in 2023 and last year. 41,453 bags were exported in 2024 against 2,266 bags in the previous year.
The year 2024 also saw record coffee prices. Foreign exchange revenue from exports via ports in Espírito Santo was US$ 1,809,402,348.62, representing a growth of 119% compared to 2023, when more than US$ 824 million in revenue was generated. The average price of coffee in 2024 was US$ 216 per bag, compared to US$ 158 in 2023, an increase of 37%. Conilon coffee recorded the highest price increase among all types of coffee, varying 43% positively from one year to the next. These were the average prices for each type of coffee in 2024: Arabica US$ 264 (+26%), conilon US$ 211 (+43%) and soluble US$ 214 (+23%).
The figures analyzed above are based solely on data from coffee shipments made exclusively from the Port of Vitória and Portocel. However, coffee exporters from Espírito Santo sent a much larger volume of coffee abroad from Espírito Santo, using other ports, such as the ports of Rio de Janeiro City mainly, the Port of Santos and the Port of Açu, in the North of the state of Rio de Janeiro.
According to conservative estimates from the Centro do Comércio de Café de Vitória - CCCV (Vitória Coffee Trade Center - CCCV), in 2024, at least 1.4 million bags of conilon coffee, 1.8 million bags of arábica coffee and 350 thousand bags of soluble coffee were exported through ports outside Espírito Santo. All of these coffees are produced and processed in Espírito Santo. This data increases the volume of coffee exported from ES, from 8.4 million bags to around 12 million bags, or a little more, generating an additional 888 million dollars approximately. In this way, the total 1It includes the entire organized port of Vitória in its various terminals.
Foreign exchange revenue of Capixaba coffee exports is approximately 2.7 billion dollars per year. Adding the volume of coffee from Espírito Santo shipped through the ports of Espírito Santo to the volume shipped through other ports, Espírito Santo's share of total Brazilian coffee exports increases from 17% to 24% of the total, and from 75% to 90% in exports of canephoras, conilon or robusta coffees.
As has been seen over the years, the Port of Vitória has limitations on the berthing of large container ships, which ends up restricting the container terminal to a feeder-type terminal, when the cargo shipped by it needs to be re-shipped on larger ships in other ports. This type of operation increases the transit time of the goods to overseas destinations and makes sea freight and other local port services more expensive. Another aggravating factor was the scenario of recurrently congested global and Brazilian maritime logistics, a shortage of containers, renovations carried out on equipment at the Espírito Santo container terminal, and the high number of electric cars imported into the ports of Espírito Santo. A combination of these factors led to shipping delays that could last up to 4 months. In the end, many importers preferred to direct their shipments to ports outside the Espírito Santo.
In the search for alternatives to ensure smooth coffee exports and honor commitments made to their customers, coffee exporters have established break-bulk shipping operations, in which coffee is loaded directly into the ship's hold in big bags, without the need for containers, which is more appropriate equipment for coffee exports. If it were not for this alternative, coffee export volumes from Espírito Santo would be slightly lower.
With break-bulk operations, in 2024, for the first time in the history of Espírito Santo, coffee was shipped outside the Greater Vitória region, with operations also being carried out at Portocel, in the city of Aracruz. Thus, shipments were recorded at three different points in Espírito Santo: at the Vila Velha S/A Terminal, at Portocel and at the Commercial Pier operated by VPorts in Vitória.
More than 260,000 bags of coffee were shipped in the break-bulk mode in Espírito Santo. Operations of this type were also recorded, with coffees from Espírito Santo, in the ports of Açu (RJ). All break-bulk operations, both within and outside Espírito Santo, were for the outflow of conilon and arábica coffee.
In addition to the approximately 12 million bags of coffee exported abroad, coffee exporters from Espírito Santo played a fundamental role in distributing the remainder of the harvest produced in Espírito Santo and nearby regions to the Brazilian domestic market, ensuring cargo readiness and high liquidity for the market, in a year of record prices.
Centro do Comércio de Café de Vitória estimates that coffee exports should remain strong through the ports of Espírito Santo in 2025, demonstrating that the export volumes of coffee from Espírito Santo have reached a new low, despite all the local and international challenges of maritime logistics. If the port infrastructure is optimized, the state is able to export at least 8 to 9 million bags annually.
When analyzing the numbers and estimates contained in this report, one reality stands out as being mandatory: Espírito Santo is consolidated as responsible for approximately 90% of conilon coffee exports in Brazil, and all actions by coffee exporters via CCCV are aimed at increasing this share. At the end of 2024, the Centro do Comércio de Café de Vitória and Vports (the Espírito Santo port authority) signed a protocol of intentions that establishes practical actions and objective goals to face the challenges of coffee export logistics and ensure an increase in volumes shipped through the Port of Vitória. Furthermore, in the coming years, new port projects in Espírito Santo, such as Imetame, Petrocity, Porto Central and the increase in coffee operations via Portocel, indicate an optimistic scenario for coffee exports through Espírito Santo.
The issue of sustainability has become increasingly relevant in international trade and is already a reality. In 2024, coffee exporters continued to be committed to expanding their actions in favor of sourcing coffee from traceable sources and deforestation-free areas, in line with the requirements of the EUDR (European regulation for the import of food produced in deforestation-free areas), a standard whose entry into force was postponed until December of this year. In this line, the CCCV will hold an in-person event in the first half of 2025 to broadly discuss the issue of sustainability in the production and international trade of coffee. The entity also foresees, as one of its strategic axes of action, the maintenance and expansion of its participation in the main forums linked to the coffee trade and the increasing integration of its actions with other entities representing the activity.
Alexis Rubinstein
