India's coffee production slashed in 2019 and exports fell, resulting in a loss of more than $1.15 billion for farmers.

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Coffee growers in the Indian state of Karnataka will suffer losses of 80.8 billion rupees ($1.15 billion) this year as continuous rainfall and mountain torrents ravaged major coffee-growing areas such as Kodagu,Chikkamagaluru and Hassan during the last monsoon.

According to data provided by the Coffee Commission of India, an estimated 48250 tons of coffee production was lost as a result of the floods in August 2018. The average price on the international market is Rs67,559 per tonne, with an estimated loss of Rs 80.8 billion. Indian coffee exports fell 9.3 per cent to 342629 tonnes in the current fiscal year (as of March 20, 2019), according to board data.

India exported 77,588 tons of 3pm in the last fiscal year. In addition to instant coffee, export products include Robusta coffee beans and Arabica coffee beans.

According to data provided on the Coffee Commission website between April 1, 2019 and March 20, 2019, the value of the goods is 57,41 million rupees (US $824.79 million). In the same period last year, shipments were worth 5916.61 million rupees ($918.10 million).

However, the growers disagreed with the committee's estimates. They say there's more to lose.

During the last monsoon, Kodagu's planting area experienced an once-in-a-century devastating rainfall and flood. This will cause the coffee fruit to rot and fall. We estimate that the loss of follow-up crop production is more than 70000 tons, worth nearly 150 billion rupees, "said MB Ganapathy, president of the Karnataka growers Association.

Since the start of the coffee crop year in October 2018, Indian coffee exports have fallen by 9.2 per cent as of March 20, 2019. During this period, the export volume was only 59991 tons, compared with 11,76,245 tons in the same period last year.

The decline in exports was attributed to reduced crop yields in 2018-19. The crops obtained after the monsoon are estimated at 3pm 19,500 tonnes, including 95000 tonnes of Arabica and 21,24,500 tonnes of Robusta. The Coffee Council estimated that production fell by 15.92%.

The value estimates of the products include instant coffee, Arabica coffee and robusta coffee. If calculated separately, the loss is much higher. Given that the prices of international transactions are the lowest in the past 30 years, growers may not even be able to recover their production costs, "said Ramesh Rajah, president of the Coffee exporters Association.

The reason for the decline in production is that monsoon rains have seriously affected production in major coffee growing areas. "there has been too much rainfall and landslides in the growing areas of the Kodagu region of Karnataka, causing coffee fruits to rot and fall. Due to too much rain in the planting area, these plants can no longer even maintain their normal growth. " Said Nishant Gurjer, a coffee grower and exporter.

It is clear that in all the major coffee-growing areas of Karnataka and Kerala, rainfall between January and September 2018 exceeded 46 per cent of the rainfall in the same period last year, the coffee committee said.

Continuous rainfall leads to soft and moist soil at the roots of coffee trees, resulting in fallen leaves, falling berries, rotting roots and black rot. The committee says uprooted shade trees and landslides can also destroy coffee crops.

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