Colombian Coffee: IKN leads, the rest follow

On May 27th (nearly a month ago, gawdarnit), IKN featured a post entitled "You sure that Colombian coffee is from Colombia, Señor Valdez?" which pointed out the bad harvest in Colombian coffee this year and growing trade of Colombians buying coffee from other countries and passing it off as "100% pure Colombian" to its customers (you suckaz, for example).

This week Reuters has finally caught up with this humble corner of cyberspace in a report that includes:

GROWN IN COLOMBIA?

While the shortage has been a boon for Brazil, whose beans some buyers had traditionally shunned but are now beginning to hold in higher esteem, the dearth of Colombia product has been more of a mixed blessing for other origins in the region.

Due to its quality, Colombian exporters have been paying large premiums for coffee grown on the lower slopes of the Peruvian Andes, carting it back over the border to ship it as local product, Peruvian producers say, disrupting local trade.

Toldya so.

Fertilizer issues, soya harvests and all that jazz

Here's a bloomie story on Brazil soya pasted as stands. Zero in on the highlighted para 2, people. This could become a big problem going forward. Watch Argentina come out with lower crop forecasts in the next couple of weeks, too.

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Brazil Cuts Soybean, Corn Forecast on Fertilizer Cost (Update1)

By Carlos Caminada

Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Soybean output in Brazil, the world's second-biggest producer, will unexpectedly fall next year as farmers lack credit to buy more expensive fertilizer, the government said.

Soybean output will decline to between 58.4 million and 59.3 million metric tons, compared with 60 million tons this year, the Agriculture Ministry's crop-forecasting agency said today in an e-mailed report. The agency, known as Conab, last month forecast production to rise to between 60.1 million and 61.3 million tons.

The global credit crunch came as farmers in Brazil sought financing to finish buying fertilizers for planting this month. The lack of credit means some regions will cut planting, and the reduced use of fertilizers may trim yields, Conab said.

``Production costs are significantly higher during the planting season and there are difficulties to access credit,'' Conab said in the report.

Average soybean yields will drop 1.6 percent to 2.77 tons per hectare in next year's harvest, Conab said. A hectare is equal to 2.47 acres.

In the Center West, which accounts for half of Brazil's soybean output, farmers will reduce planting as much as 2.9 percent to 9.35 million hectares.

Corn production will fall to 54.3 million to 55.2 million tons, from 58.6 million tons, Conab said. That compares with the October estimate for a drop to 55 million to 56 million tons.

To contact the reporter on this story: Carlos Caminada in Sao Paulo at at ccaminada1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 6, 2008 07:20 EST