Drop in Colombian coffee crop blamed on bad weather

Colombia's coffee production rose sharply in the final month of last year but full-year production still came in under 2011's output due to bad weather and a crop-renovation program that took a while to yield results.

December's production totaled 904,000 60-kilogram bags, a 23 percent increase from 735,000 bags in December 2011, according to data released by Colombia's National Federation of Coffee Growers, or Fedecafé.

For all of 2012, output was 7.74 million bags, 1 percent lower from 2011's total. In terms of exports, December shipments totaled 829,000 bags, down 3 percent from the same period a year ago.

Source: Wall Street Journal