How Coffee In Brazil Is Going To Challenge India’s Coffee Business?

World trade is a strange thing. One’s loss is the opportunity for the other. And then, you have the vice-versa aspect of it. Don’t you? At the exact same point in time, two countries can have their hands on a mega business-opportunity, at the back of both nations’ respective strengths at cultivating or producing something that stands a fantastic opportunity for consumption in the rest of the world.

We know how the thing works. We know it to be a paradox. But who would’ve thought that even during these tough times given the current fiasco thanks to the Coronavirus lockdown, India could be in for some trouble when nothing that it’s done on its own has led to a potential business-loss, so to speak?

Well, as luck would have it- it turns out that the coffee business in Brazil, which is about to witness its peak period of cultivation is about to benefit from the growth back in the country. So while this is, inarguably speaking, a great positive for the land of Brazil, it does spell some trouble for India, truthfully speaking.

And how’s that? Well, to put it simply, the full-blown chances of Brazil wanting to export all it does will shoot India where it hurts most: in lowering the chances of the major sub-continental nation’s export business.

That is the realty right now. We know that coffee in Brazil is so popular, not like any random product or cultivation. It’s a major item of production that exercises its muscle by dominating the trade charts all around the world.

That being said, even as the aspect of coffee in Brazil makes the country the largest producer of one of the world’s most admired drinks of all time, there are other countries too, that produce coffee in large sums. That includes- India!

But when you put the two distinct nations in a trade situation pertaining to coffee, you understand the situation as being a complex one. Simple as it may sound, the equation has major ramifications for both countries, where the gain for Brazil is, quite simply, the loss for India.

More from The Economic Times on its reportage on the matter:

Onset of harvest season in Brazil, the largest producer of coffee, may hamper the efforts of Indian exporters to step up shipments as several European countries ease the curbs of Covid-19 lockdown.

Italy, the largest buyer of Indian coffee, started relaxing the restrictions from Monday much to the relief of the Indian coffee industry. However, the exporters fear intense price pressure from Brazil which is expecting a normal crop.

“Our exports may start looking up from June. But we may not be able to compete with cheaper Brazilian coffee as our costs are higher,’’ said Ramesh Rajah, president of Coffee Exporters Association.

That being said, it’s not that India is going to embrace an utterly helpless trade situation in what lies ahead where things, as it is, have been quite on the backburner thanks to the lockdown.

Suggested Read: Is The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Illegal? India Feels So!

Where the healthcare sector stands, then it appears that the pharmacists are in for a massive gain with news already confirming that the Narendra Modi-led country is all set to export a whopping quantity of 1,000 tonnes worth of raw material needed to make the (well-known) medicine Paracetamol, which would be exported to Europe during this time of utter need.

Yet, those in the business of coffee production would still feel some challenges, won’t they?