Landslide in India's coffee-producing state of Kerala kills 358 people

According to Indian media reports, a large-scale landslide occurred in the Vayanad area of Kerala, India. According to the latest statistics, the landslide accident has caused 358 deaths and serious economic losses.

According to reports, this time in the early morning of July 30, landslides occurred in many places due to continuous heavy rainfall in the Vayanad area of Kerala, India. By August 1 local time, a total of 295 people had been killed, more than 200 people had been injured, and another 240 people had disappeared. Moreover, due to continuous rainfall in the incident area, some roads were washed out, so the rescue work encountered great difficulties.

At present, the local government has launched a rescue operation and dispatched helicopters to participate in the rescue. However, because the location is in the mountainous area and the roads are blocked, the rescue has become more difficult. Moreover, according to the local meteorological department, there will still be large areas of heavy rainfall in the future, and there will be "heavy to extremely heavy rains", which will bring great difficulties to rescue work.

It is understood that India is the monsoon rainy season from June to September every year. Thunderstorms occur frequently, and disasters such as floods, mudslides, and landslides occur frequently. And in early July, Bihar, India, suffered heavy rain and lightning weather. A total of 19 people were killed and 7 others were injured due to lightning strikes. Heavy rain and lightning warnings have been issued locally.

According to local experts, the occurrence of serious landslides in the area is closely related to the intensification of global climate change this year. Due to frequent heavy rainfall and the intensification of land development, the natural environment of the mountainous areas has been greatly damaged, resulting in mudslides, natural disasters such as landslides occur frequently.

Moreover, the accident occurred in the Vayanad region of Kerala, located in southwest India. It is one of India's main coffee producing areas and a producing area with a large number of coffee production. Arabica is planted in higher altitudes. Outside of Bica, Robusta is basically planted. Moreover, Robsta accounts for more than 70% of India's coffee production, and the harvest period of Robsta in the new season is from December to February of the following year. Therefore, current weather conditions are crucial to determining Robsta's production in the new season., and the current heavy rainfall and landslides will severely reduce coffee production.

According to earlier Indian coffee reports, India's coffee production in the 2024/25 marketing year is expected to be approximately 6 million bags of 60 kilograms of coffee beans, of which Arabica is estimated to be 1.4 million bags of 69 kilograms of coffee, and Robusta estimates 4.6 million bags of 60 kilograms of coffee.

In June, India released a coffee export report. In the first half of 2024, India's coffee exports increased by 13% year-on-year to 244,000 tons, and its share of export revenue increased by 43% to US$926 million. Among them, Robusta coffee exports increased significantly, due to Robusta producing countries in Asia such as Vietnam and Indonesia reporting production cuts, while Brazil is in the harvest season, so coffee buyers are turning to Robusta, India.

In addition, EUDR (European Union No Deforestation Regulation) will be officially implemented at the end of this year, and European traders and roasters will hoard coffee beans on a large scale. At present, major coffee countries such as Brazil, Vietnam and Indonesia have reported reduced coffee production. Coffee industry insiders believe that international coffee prices will remain high until the end of this year.