TEGUCIGALPA, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Honduran coffee exports jumped nearly 30% year-on-year in December, a senior export sector official said on Wednesday, pointing to sales from last season's leftover harvest.
Shipments from Central America's largest coffee exporter hit 254,923.93 60-kilo bags in December compared to 196,304.69 for the same month of the 2022/23 season, according to preliminary figures from the country's coffee institute, IHCAFE.
Miguel Pon, who heads the Honduran coffee exporters' association ADECAFEH, told Reuters the increase was due to a rise in sales of beans harvested last year.
"Most of the coffee that went out is 'carryover' bean left over from last year's harvest, but production from the new harvest has already started to come in," Pon said.
The 2022/23 harvest left some 497,284.81 60-kilo bags of "carryover" coffee, the institute said.
In the season through December, Honduras exported 347,222.28 60-kilo bags, 20% more than the bags shipped in the same period of the previous season.
Honduras expects to export some 4,983,333 bags in 2023/24.
Honduras, which exports arabica coffee, harvests its crop between October and September, as do its neighboring countries.
(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
