According to a report by El Mundo of El Salvador on the 16th, data from the Salvadoran Coffee Institute shows that as of July 31 of this year, the coffee production for this season is 856,600 quintals (1 quintal equals 46 kilograms). Coffee harvesting is mainly concentrated in the first seven months of each season (i.e., between October of each year and May of the next year), so the final production forecast usually does not change significantly. The coffee production for this season is expected to reach the lowest level since the 2020/2021 season. The 2020/2021 season was affected by economic and transportation issues due to the pandemic, resulting in a production of only 790,900 quintals.
It is worth noting that despite the decline in coffee production, export revenue has increased, mainly due to the historically high international coffee prices.
Data from the Salvadoran Coffee Institute shows that from October of last year to July of this year, coffee exports from El Salvador were 540,400 quintals, with an export value of $155 million.
According to data from the Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador (BCR), from January to July of this year, coffee exports were 476,100 quintals, an increase of 11.1% year-on-year; the export value reached $138 million, a year-on-year increase of 42.9%; the average export price was $289 per quintal, the highest in nearly three years.
Currently, coffee ranks as the fifth largest export product in El Salvador, accounting for 3.39% of the total export value.
It is known that the coffee industry was the economic engine of El Salvador for over 200 years, but it began to decline at the beginning of the 21st century. Data shows that in the 1992/1993 season, coffee production exceeded 4.3 million quintals, with the most recent high production season being 2012/2013, with production exceeding 1.7 million quintals. Since then, coffee production has never exceeded one million quintals. The initial decline in production was due to the large-scale infestation of coffee rust, followed by the industry falling into a vicious cycle of high debt, periodic declines in international coffee prices, extreme climate events, and other crises, making it difficult for the industry to get out of trouble.