Even During the Off-Season, Brazil Fails to Ship 737,000 Bags of Coffee in April
CoffeeNetwork (New York) - Overburdened port infrastructure caused delays and schedule changes in 56% of export vessels, resulting in losses of BRL 6.657 million for exporting companies last month
Brazil’s main containerized export commodities are currently in the off-season, which in theory should ease pressure on major ports. However, that has not been the case, as exporters continue to face logistical bottlenecks and accumulate losses due to additional shipping costs
According to updated data from the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafé), the sector was unable to ship 737,653 60kg bags of coffee, equivalent to 2,236 containers. As a result, exporters incurred costs totaling BRL 6.657 million, mainly due to unforeseen expenses with additional storage, detentions, pre-stacking, and early gate opening.
Since Cecafé began monitoring these issues in June 2024, its member companies have accumulated BRL 73.233 million in losses from extra costs caused by outdated infrastructure at Brazil’s main coffee export ports.
As a result of the unshipped volume, Brazil missed out on USD 328.60 million—or BRL 1.9 billion—in export revenue in April alone, based on an average Free on Board (FOB) price of USD 445.47 per bag of green coffee and a monthly average exchange rate of BRL 5.7831.
Cecafé’s Technical Director, Eduardo Heron, emphasized the importance of recent government announcements on infrastructure investments—including the auction of the Tecon Santos 10 container terminal, the concession of the port’s maritime access channel, the planned Santos–Guarujá tunnel, and a third lane on the Anchieta Highway linking São Paulo to the coast. He stressed that these projects must move forward quickly and without bureaucratic delays.
“These improvements are expected to take around five years to be completed under normal procedures. However, the idea of limiting broad participation in the Tecon Santos 10 auction—including shipping lines— makes no sense. It creates unnecessary complications, potentially resulting in legal disputes, which would delay the process even further, leading to even higher logistics costs for companies involved in foreign trade,” he said.
In addition to the negative impact on exporters, Heron pointed out that Brazilian coffee growers are also harmed by the current port infrastructure bottlenecks.
“Brazil is the country that pays the highest share of FOB export prices to coffee growers—an average of 88.3% in 2024 for Arabica producers and 96.5% for the Coffea Canephora (Robusta + Conilon) producers. When we’re unable to export our coffee due to canceled shipments caused by insufficient port infrastructure, we also miss the opportunity to deliver more income to our growers—who are exemplary in producing high-quality, sustainable coffees for the world,” he explained.
He added that, given the increasingly challenging scenario—from production to export—public authorities must act swiftly and urgently, ensuring that the announced investments actually help restore a normal flow in the shipment of Brazilian crops, free from bureaucracy and restrictions, unlike what seems to be happening with the Tecon Santos 10 auction.
“There is an urgent need for increased cargo capacity, and there are no solid reasons to justify limiting participation in the auction. Restricting players with expertise and know-how in cargo handling and transport—such as shipping lines—would be a serious mistake. On top of that, restricting participation could reopen debate on the issue and set a precedent for potential legal challenges to the process, especially in a pre-election year, which would almost certainly delay the bidding process for the Tecon Santos 10 terminal even further.” he explained.
Cecafé’s Technical Director also pointed out that the logistical setbacks and financial losses faced by coffee exporters highlight the overburdened state of port infrastructure and the clear need to move quickly with the auction process—“so that we can have better facilities, more capacity, and greater efficiency at the Port of Santos, helping to avoid, or at least reduce, the heavy losses to the sector and the lower returns to producers.”
According to Heron, Cecafé continues to actively engage in ongoing dialogue with stakeholders across the public and private sectors, presenting concrete data on the country’s critical port logistics situation in order to help identify solutions with immediate impact on the industry.
“This growing collaboration has led port authorities, the Ministry of Ports and Airports, and the National Agency for Waterway Transportation (ANTAQ) to increasingly rely on our data and insights as they work to find solutions that better serve exporters by improving port operations across Brazil,” he concluded.
According to the Detention Zero (DTZ) Bulletin, developed by startup ElloX Digital in partnership with Cecafé, 56% of vessels—157 out of a total of 283 vessels—experienced delays or schedule changes at Brazil’s main ports in April 2025.
The Port of Santos, which accounted for 79.9% of coffee shipments between January and April 2025, saw 58% of its container vessels delayed or rescheduled, affecting 99 out of 171 ships. At the Port of Santos, the longest waiting time last month reached 31 days.
Also last month, only 7% of coffee export operations at Santos had a gate open period longer than four days. Another 66% had between three and four days, and 28% had less than two days.
The Rio de Janeiro (RJ) port complex, Brazil’s second-largest coffee export hub with a 16% share of shipments in the first four months of 2025, reported a 67% delay rate in April, with the longest gap between the first and last shipping deadline reaching 15 days. This percentage indicates that 26 of the 39 vessels assigned to coffee shipments had changes to their schedules.
Between January and April 2025, 18% of export procedures at ports in Rio de Janeiro had gate openings longer than four days; 36% ranged from three to four days; and 46% lasted less than two days.
Alexis Rubinstein
