Coffee production in Brazil
| 2011 | |
|---|---|
| Production | |
| Total production | 2,609,040 tonnes |
| Types produced | Arabica and robusta |
| Total area planted | 2,339,630 ha |
| Harvesting year | April–March |
| Processing method | Dry and wet |
| Exports | |
| Green (total) | 1,808,462 tonnes |
| Green (arabica) | 1,648,262 tonnes |
| Green (robusta) | 160,199 tonnes |
| Processed coffee | 201,989 tonnes GBE |
| % of total exports | 3.5% |
| % of GDP | 0.35% |
| Source: "Statistics on coffee: Brazil (2011)" (PDF). International Coffee Organization. | |
Coffee production in Brazil is responsible for about a third of all coffee, making Brazil by far the world's largest producer, a position the country has held for the last 150 years. Coffee plantations, covering some 27,000 km2 (10,000 sq mi), are mainly located in the southeastern states of Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná where the environment and climate provide ideal growing conditions.
The crop first arrived in Brazil in the 18th Century and the country had become the dominant producer by the 1840s. Production as a share of world coffee output peaked in the 1920's, with the country supplying 100% of the world's coffee, but has declined since the 1950s due to increased global production.
Coffee is not native to the Americas and had to be planted in the country. The first coffee bush in Brazil was planted by Francisco de Melo Palheta in the state of Pará in 1727. According to the legend, the Portuguese were looking for a cut of the coffee market, but could not obtain seeds from bordering French Guiana due to the governor's unwillingness to export the seeds. Palheta was sent to French Guiana on a diplomatic mission to resolve a border dispute. On his way back home, he managed to smuggle the seeds into Brazil by seducing the governor's wife who secretly gave him a bouquet spiked with seeds.
Coffee spread from Pará and reached Rio de Janeiro in 1770, but was only produced for domestic consumption until the early 19th century when American and European demand increased, creating the first of two coffee booms. The cycle ran from the 1830s to 1850s, contributing to the decline of slavery and increased industrialization. Coffee plantations in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais quickly grew in size in the 1820s, accounting for 20% of worlds production. By the 1830s, coffee had become Brazil's largest export and accounted for 30% of the world's production. In the 1840s, both the share of total exports and of world production reached 40%, making Brazil the largest coffee producer. The early coffee industry was dependent on slaves; in the first half of the 19th century 1.5 million slaves were imported to work on the plantations. When the foreign slave trade was outlawed in 1850, plantation owners began turning more and more to European immigrants to meet the demand of labor. However, internal slave trade with the north continued until slavery was finally abolished in Brazil in 1888.
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