Guatemalan 2017-18 coffee exports are expected to rise 4.8 percent versus the previous cycle to 4.4 million 60-kg bags, despite the presence of the roya fungus, the president of national coffee association Anacafe said on Wednesday. “It’s good news ...they’re good numbers,” Anacafe chief Ricardo Arenas told Reuters. “We estimate 4.4 million (60-kilogram bags).” Guatemala exported 4.2 million 60-kilgram bags in the previous cycle, which runs from October through September. Arenas said the number of shrubs affected by roya, a tree-killing fungus, had not risen, but it still affects between 7 and 20 percent of the crop in some regions. Nonetheless, he said new coffee shrubs and better rains had improved prospects for the current harvest in the world’s 10th biggest producer. Source: af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL1N1NS24W
