Coffee Fungus Seen Cutting Up to 25% of Central America Output

Coffee farms in Central America may lose 25 percent of exportable production next year because of a crop disease known as leaf rust, providing a “little bit” of a boost to slumping prices, an industry group said.

In the 12 months starting Oct. 1, about 3.45 million bags of exportable coffee will be lost from the 13.8 million expected in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica, said Jose Angel Buitrago, the president of the Central American Organization of Coffee Exporters, or Orceca, citing figures compiled from the region’s main grower groups.