RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The vice-minister of Foreign Trade, Benjamín Blanco, informed this Wednesday that Bolivia exported between January and June 80% more coffee than in the same period of 2020, with an income close to US$5 million.
“From January 2020 to June this year, we have exported coffee to 12 different countries in the world,” he reported at an opening ceremony of pre-selection of coffee samples for the National Tournament Quality Cup ‘Presidential Coffee 2021’.
Read also: Check out our coverage on Bolivia
He added this year, there was a decrease in the international price of coffee compared to the cost at which it was marketed in 2020. However, more income was generated.
“We have received around US$5 million from exports for only six months, while last year, in the same six months, we had only reached US$3.4 million with a higher price than the one we have now,” he explained.
From January to June 2020, coffee had an average price of US$7.134 per metric ton, while this year, in the same period, it dropped to US$5.749.
COFFEE PRODUCTION IN BOLIVIA
Coffee production in Bolivia has had a long history in the country. Coffee is grown in farms located 800–2,300 meters above sea level.
La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, and El Beni are the principal areas that produce coffee; the most notable areas were the districts of Yungas, Caupalicam, Espiritu Santo, and Valle Grande. The best coffee produced is Yungas, which rivals Cafe mocha.
There was a time in which Yungas coffee had great demand, especially in Europe. This Asiatic plant is so well acclimatized in Yungas that it grows spontaneously, as each grain that falls on the ground becomes a tree. In 1885, the production of coffee was 2,400,000 pounds a year. By 1900, at La Paz, a machine was installed to roast and grind the coffee, selling it in homemade tins.
Today most of the exports are sent to Chile.
More: Bolivia news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated AI newsroom. Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. The Rio Times also runs Ask Rio Times, which answers from 100,000+ of our own articles, the daily Latin America Power Map, and prediction-market odds on elections and markets.. How we use AI · Report an error