Cecafe Leadership Change: Brazil's Coffee Exports Drop 9.4% in February, Coffee Harvest Increases 17.2%

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New Leadership at the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council

On February 8th, the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafe) announced that Nicolas Rueda, Chief Executive Director of ED&F Man Volcafé Brasil, will serve as Chairman of the Council for the 2021-2022 term. Gunter Hausler, General Manager of NKG Stockler, will serve as Vice Chairman, and Flavia Barbosa Paulino da Costa, Executive Partner of Guaxupe Coffee Exporters, will serve as Secretary. The previous Chairman, Nelson Carvalhaes - who served as a council member from 2016 to 2020 - will continue as an advisor to the Council after completing his two terms.

The New Chairman's Priorities

According to the Council, the new chairman's agenda upon taking office includes strengthening the Council as a political body and modernizing the management of projects spanning social responsibility, sustainable development, export processes and statistics, and commercial intelligence efficiency and transparency.

Brazil Coffee Export Statistics

In a February 9th report, Cecafe stated that Brazil exported 3,147,222 bags (60kg per bag) of coffee in January this year - a 9.1% decrease from the record high of 3,474,552 bags in the same month last year, and a 13.9% decrease from December's export volume of 4,388,120 bags.

Currency Impact

According to a report out of São Paulo, owing to the Real's depreciation against the US dollar, export revenue denominated in the Brazilian real grew by 10.2% compared to January 2020.

Positive Developments

On his first day in office, the new Chairman Nicolas Rueda had good news to share: the Council's bills settled in reais increased in January, and Brazil's coffee harvest in the first month of 2021 rose 17.2% compared with the previous month.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

News like this matters to drinkers as much as traders: as the world's largest coffee producer, Brazil accounts for one-third of global coffee consumption across every grade and type, and its beans anchor countless blends. FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian range is a direct way to taste why.

FrontStreet's Cerrado Red Bourbon is a classic Brazilian single origin from one of the country's best-known quality regions. Roasted medium, it shows rich cream-and-peanut, toasted bread, caramel, and hazelnut aromas, with a rounded, non-acidic cup and only a light bitter note - and it is equally at home in a pour-over, a moka pot, an espresso SOE, a siphon, or a French press.

For something rarer, FrontStreet's Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon comes from Mogiana near southern Minas Gerais, where fertile red volcanic soil builds full, developed aromatics. Yellow Bourbon, a genetic mutation of Red Bourbon, gives a cleaner fruit character: brewed any way you like, it reveals a sugarcane sweetness you will not find from other origins, alongside fruit and chocolate notes.

Brazil's low acidity and balance also make it the backbone of many espresso formulas. FrontStreet's Classic Blend, Premium Blend, Dark Cocoa Blend, and Commercial Blend all include Brazilian components, contributing chocolate and cream aromas plus a gentle sweet-sour-bitter balance that keeps extraction stable - precisely why baristas keep recommending them.