LatinNews Daily - 29 January 2025

*The Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento (Conab), the logistics arm of Brazil’s agrarian development ministry, has released its first forecast for the 2025 coffee harvest, projecting 51.8m sacks of coffee (one sack = 60kg). This would mark 4.4% decrease from the 2024 harvest. In a press release, Conab warned that climate conditions such as higher temperatures and water scarcity could hinder this year’s harvest. In terms of coffee varieties, arabica coffee production is expected to total 34.7m sacks this year, which would be down 12.4% on the previous year, while the production of conilon (a variety similar to robusta coffee) is expected to come to 17.1m sacks, down 17.2% on the previous year. Conab projects that the south-eastern state of Minas Gerais will remain Brazil’s top state for coffee production, forecasting 24.8m sacks this year, which would be down 11.6% on the previous year. The second-highest producer state is expected to be the neighbouring state of Espírito Santo, with a production forecast of 15.1m sacks, which would be an increase of 9.0% from 2024.