According to provisional figures available from Coffee Board, revenue from coffee exports plunged to Rs 1,326.25 crore during the period under review compared to Rs 1,467.08 crore clocked during 1996-1997, a decline of 9.55 per cent over the last year. But the unit value per tonne increased to Rs 95,178 from Rs 80,922 fetched during 1996-1997, thanks to the high volatile coffee prices in the international markets and the weakening of the rupee against the US currency.

A section of coffee exporters in Bangalore attributed this to the diminishing coffee production in the country, and say many traditional coffee growers are pulling out of the business due to the expected higher revenues from other commodities like ginger. Ginger, as an intercrop, is making inroads to coffee fields in many parts of the country, they said.

Last year coffee growers haddisputed the coffee production estimates for July 1997 - June 1998 season of 2.30 lakh tonnes made by the Coffee Board. The actual crop is expected to be between 2.10 lakh tonne and 2.13 lakh tonne, according to the Karnataka Planters Association (KPA). They had also said coffee plantations in Kodagu district of Karnataka had been hit by white stem borer and berry borer diseases in at least 15,000 hectares.

Karnataka accounts for 70 per cent of India's coffee production with the rest coming from other southern states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Exports during the first quarter of the current year have also nose-dived to 20,149 tonne from 40,654 tonne registered during January-March 1997, a fall of 50.43 per cent over the same period last year. The total revenue fetched during the period under review is Rs 214.16 crore against Rs 383.44 crore for January-March 1997, though there were a high unit value of Rs 106,288 per tonne (Rs 94,317 per tonne) during the period.

However, the permits issued for exportswere for 62,615 tonne against 46,184 tonne for the three months period ended March 1997. The permits issued during the last fiscal was 1,85,301 tonne (1,81,313 tonne). ``Delay in getting coffee export permits was one of the main reasons for the dismal performance during the last three months,'' says Ashwin Shah of Madhu Jayanthi International.

An executive from Allana Sons, a leading coffee exporter, said the performance on the export front was the same throughout the last fiscal. During the coffee year - October 1997 to March 1998 - the exports were showed a negative trend. During the period the quantity of coffee exported were 46,763 tonne against 59,235 tonne for October 1996 to March 1997. Significantly, the earnings have also come down to Rs 445.68 crore (Rs 531.45 crore). The unit value per tonne during the last coffee year was Rs 95,306 against Rs 89,718. Sources in the Coffee Exporters Association said that the revenue during the first quarter of the current fiscal will also be hit by the holidaysin the month of April.

``Shipments out of India have been badly affected due to a spate of three consecutive holidays during the five working days, followed by the weekend in the second week of April. The damage for six days disruption during the peak season has been estimated at around Rs 50 crore,'' sources said. Ashwin Shah, who is also the vice chairman of Coffee Federation of India (Cofifed) said the exports of beans should be encouraged during the peak production season between January to April.