Colombia’s coffee production will increase by 50% to 14-15 million bags in the next five years, Luis Genaro Muñoz, head of the country’s National Federation of Coffee Growers, announced Monday.
The Andean nation’s coffee production is set to increase this year to its normal level of around 11.5 million bags, after poor weather conditions in 2009 led to a crash in output to a thirty-year low of 7.8 million bags.
Colombia’s place as the world’s third-largest coffee producer was taken last year by Indonesia.
But output is now recovering thanks to improved weather, good flowering of coffee plants, and increased fertilizer use, according to Muñoz.
“Everything indicates the second half [of 2010] will without any doubt be better than the first half and that means Colombia will reach about 10 to 11 million bags,” he said.
April’s production will be around 690,000 bags, double that of the same period a year earlier.
Colombia’s coffee output was 28.5% down in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the same period the previous year.
“Today we are focused on being the supplier of the best coffee in the world,” the coffee federation head said. “To be the most trusted supplier, the supplier with highest specialization needed.”