Drought owes: Coffee growers in Karnataka hit by price crash

Drought owes: Coffee growers in Karnataka hit by price crash

MADIKERI: Coffee prices have been falling sharply since January, compounding the worries of drought-hit growers.

The prices of a 50-kg bag of Arabica parchment coffee slid to Rs 7,800 on Thursday from Rs 9,700-9,800 levels in January, accounting for about a 20% fall in four months. The prices had been in the range of Rs 9,000-10,000 for three years before the slide began.

However, Robusta coffee prices have remained relatively stable, falling a little over 7% to Rs 6,500 a bag (50 kg) from Rs 7,000 in January, trader Rajiv Kushalappa told Express on Thursday.

What has baffled growers is that coffee prices have come down despite an 8.5% fall in India's coffee output this year.