Coffee exports from Honduras rose by 1.9% in January compared with the same month last year, despite new reports of smuggling of a large number in Guatemala, and to Mexico, said the national coffee Institute IHCAFE.

Deliveries of coffee from Honduras, the largest producer in Central America amounted to $ 535 628 60-kilogram bags in January.

In the previous year the country exported in January 525 670 bags.

The Association of coffee exporters of the country, ADECAFEH, has estimated that approximately 345 000 bags during the harvest season 2015/2016 has already been illegally smuggled to Guatemala and for the first time in Mexico.

Guide ADECAFEH reported that Guatemalan shoppers come to Honduras and purchase local coffee at 10-15% higher than domestic prices.

If the trend continues until the end of the season, smuggled volume of coffee can be nearly 767 000 bags and cost a poor Central American country $120 million of export revenue.

Smuggled coffee was imported to Guatemala and Mexico, where it is consumed domestically and also exported due to falling production in the two countries, said the leadership of the Association.

Coffee production in Honduras continues to increase.

During the first four months of the current season 2015/2016 Honduras sent 958 678 bags, which is 2.1% higher than in the same period of the previous season.

Honduras expects to export approximately 5,52 million bags in the harvest-2015/2016, which would mean a 10% increase compared with shipments during the previous cycle.

The coffee season in Central America and Mexico, which together produce approximately one-fifth of the world's Arabica beans, runs from October to September.

Source: Thomson Reuters