Over 600,000 Bags of Coffee Not Shipped from Brazil in January Due to Delays
CoffeeNetwork (New York) - According to a survey by the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafé) with 23 member companies, which represent 65% of total shipments, the high rates of delays and regular changes in the schedules of ships for export, in addition to constant cargo rollovers, caused the country to accumulate 672,113 60-kg bags – 2,037 containers – of coffee not shipped in January 2025.
The continuity of these logistical bottlenecks in Brazilian ports means that exporters continue to accumulate losses, around R$ 6.134 million in the first month of this year and R$ 57.7 million in the last eight months — since June 2024, when Cecafé started the survey, to January 2025 — due to extra expenses related to additional storage, detentions, pre-stacking and anticipation of gates.
Considering the average Free on Board (FOB) export price of US$ 336.33 per bag (green coffee) and an average dollar of R$ 6.0212 in January, the non-shipment of this coffee implies that Brazil failed to receive, last month, about US$ 226.05 million, or R$ 1.361 billion.
According to Cecafé's technical director, Eduardo Heron, of the total accumulated volume of 1.8 million bags that was stuck in ports by December 2024, about 1.2 million were shipped last month, which justifies the good volume of 3.9 million bags that Brazil exported in January.
"The (coffee) that was stopped in ports until December has been leaving gradually, as Brazil is in the off-season and with less available supply, remembering that the country broke an annual record of 50.5 million bags exported in 2024. However, our associates reported that the logistics scenario, despite showing improvements in January due to the reduced supply, remains challenging, with many obstacles and high additional expenses and that this pseudo feeling of improvement should remain until the arrival of the new harvest", he explains.
According to the Zero Detention Bulletin (DTZ), prepared by the startup ElloX Digital in partnership with Cecafé, 67% of ships, or 203 out of a total of 302 vessels, had delays or changes in calls at the main ports in Brazil in January 2025.
The longest waiting time last month was 40 days, which occurred at the Port of Santos (SP), the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. In addition, 40 ships did not even have a gate opened at the Santos anchorage in January.
According to the DTZ Bulletin, the Port of Santos, which accounted for 75.3% of coffee shipments in the first month of this year, recorded a 77% rate of delay or change in ship calls, which involved 122 of the total 158 container ships.
Also last month, only 9% of the boarding procedures had a period longer than four days of gate opened by ships at the Santos pier. Another 50% had between three and four days and 41% had less than two days.
The port complex of Rio de Janeiro (RJ), the second largest exporter of coffees in Brazil, with a 21% share of shipments in January, had a delay rate of 70% last month, with the longest interval being 35 days between the first and last deadline. This percentage implies that 43 of the 70 ships destined for shipments of the product suffered a change in stopovers.
Also in the first month of this year, 18% of export procedures had a period of more than four days of open gate by container ships in the ports of Rio de Janeiro; 36% recorded between three and four days; and 46% had less than two days.
Alexis Rubinstein
