Labor shortage! Brazil's coffee harvest is slow and port delays are increased due to dengue disease

Recently, due to the influence of El Ni ñ o weather, hot and humid weather has occurred in many countries in the Americas in summer, providing a more adaptive environment for mosquito survival and breeding, resulting in a serious case of dengue fever in many countries in the Americas.

As of mid-April this year, more than 5.2 million confirmed cases of dengue fever have been detected in the Americas, more than 4.5 million in the whole of last year, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). At present, dengue fever is the most serious in the Americas, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, and the number of cases in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mexico and other places is also increasing, with confirmed cases accounting for more than 90% of the total number of cases in the region and deaths accounting for more than 83%.

Among them, the number of confirmed cases in Brazil has exceeded 3.5 million, with 1544 deaths, the highest number of cases and deaths since 2000. Such a high number of cases has led to a sharp increase in the number of hospitalizations in Brazilian hospitals. at the municipal hospital in the city of Sao Paulo, the number of hospitalizations for dengue fever has increased more than 20 times, with an average admission rate of 90%.

At present, Brazil has entered the early stage of the new season for picking robusta coffee beans. Although picking has begun, progress has been slow because many workers have been affected by dengue fever.

In addition, although the port of Santos, Brazil's largest port, is short of manpower due to outdated equipment and outdated management, there has been a problem of ship delays, which has been exacerbated by the recent dengue fever.

According to the Brazilian Association of Coffee exporters (Cecafe), the delay rate of coffee ships in the port of Santos was 80% in March, up 5% from 75% in February and the third worst performance since January 2023, involving 90 container ships with a maximum delay of 39 days.

Moreover, the data show that about 30% of ships can successfully export within 2 days, 57% of ships need 3-4 days, and another 12% need more than 4 days to export. In addition, due to labor shortages, the delay rate of coffee boats in the port of Rio de Janeiro is 81%, while that in Victoria Harbour is 59%.

In addition, the Asian country Indonesia also has an outbreak of dengue fever. According to the Indonesian Ministry of Health, more than 60,000 cases of dengue fever have been confirmed in Indonesia, with 475 deaths, about three times the number in the same period last year. And the "May Day" holiday is approaching, so the Chinese Consulate reminded Chinese citizens in Indonesia to pay attention to travel safety and strengthen the prevention of dengue fever.