Brazil exported 3.93 million 60-kilogram bags of green coffee in September 2026, the largest monthly total in 20 months and 20.4% more than in September 2025, according to data from Secex, the foreign trade secretariat of Brazil's Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services, published on 6 October. Reuters reported the Secex figures the same day, in copy carried by Diário do Comércio and Forbes Brasil, and gave the weight as 235,800 metric tons. Green coffee is the unroasted seed that roasters buy, and a 60-kilogram bag is the unit the trade counts it in.
The money rose more slowly than the volume. Reuters reported that September's green coffee shipments earned $1.29 billion, up 8.7% on September 2025, because the larger volume more than made up for a 9.8% fall in the average export price, according to the Secex data. Coffee earned Brazil more foreign currency in September than any unprocessed farm product except soybeans, Reuters reported.
Why are there two different September figures?
The two figures count different things. The 3.93 million bags that Reuters reported on 6 October cover green coffee only. Canal Rural reported on 6 October that Secex data for green and soluble coffee together showed 4.066 million bags in September 2026, up 19.7% from 3.397 million bags in September 2025. Canal Rural reported revenue for that wider total of $1.335 billion, up 3.4% from $1.291 billion a year earlier, and noted that September 2026 had 21 working days against 22 in September 2025.
Brazil's exporters' council, Cecafé, publishes its own monthly count. Its most recent report, for August 2026, recorded 4.16 million bags and about $1.3 billion in revenue, which Cecafé called the best August on record. Cecafé had not published September figures by the morning of 7 October, and Comunicaffe reported on 7 October that they were expected in the coming days.
Does one strong month change the year?
Not on the year-to-date count. Canal Rural reported that Brazil shipped 26.796 million bags of green and soluble coffee from January through September 2026, 4.6% fewer than the 28.099 million bags shipped in the same months of 2025. Revenue for those nine months was $10.037 billion, down 10.6% from $11.232 billion, according to the same Secex figures. On Canal Rural's figures, the first nine months of 2026 ran about 1.3 million bags behind 2025, roughly a third of the 4.066 million bags Brazil shipped in September 2026 alone.
The rise began before September. The International Coffee Organization reported in its Coffee Market Report for August 2026 that Brazil's exports in July 2026 were up 10.9% to 3.06 million bags, from 2.76 million bags in July 2025.
Why are shipments rising now?
Reuters tied the rise to the new crop. It reported that Brazil's harvest was finished by September after unusual winter rains had delayed the work, which left exporters with beans from the new crop to sell. Brazil's crop agency, Conab, estimated the 2026 crop at a record 67.6 million bags in its third survey of the season, published on 24 September, as our report on Conab's estimate set out. On Conab's estimate, September's green coffee exports equal a little under 6% of the year's crop.
What did coffee prices do after the export data?
They rose. Comunicaffe reported that on 6 October the benchmark arabica contract in New York closed up nearly 4.1% at 304.45 US cents a pound, its first close above $3 a pound since 1 September, and that the November robusta contract in London rose just under 1.8% to $3,590 a metric ton. Comunicaffe attributed the move to further strength in the Brazilian real against the dollar and to technical factors, and noted continuing concern over El Niño.
The daily coffee market report dated 7 October 2026, posted on the Uganda Coffee Development Authority's website, shows the same settlement: December arabica at 304.45 cents on 6 October, up 11.90 cents, with March at 295.85. The report noted that the real had risen to a one-month high against the dollar, and that a stronger real discourages Brazilian producers from selling coffee for export, because each dollar of sales converts into fewer reais.
Weather also ran through the market reporting. Guilherme Dorigatti of Notícias Agrícolas reported on 5 October that traders were watching rainfall in Brazil's arabica regions during flowering for the 2026/27 crop, heavy rain in Vietnam during the robusta harvest, and low certified stocks of arabica in exchange warehouses. He reported that the December contract settled at 292.55 cents that day, and cited Safras & Mercado as noting that the strong real had also pushed down prices in reais inside Brazil, making growers slower to sell.
For a longer reference point, the ICO reported that its composite indicator price averaged 287.29 US cents a pound in August 2026. Our report on September's price decline covers how the market reached the start of October, and our explainer on coffee prices covers the longer background.
What figures come next?
Cecafé's September report is the next count, and Comunicaffe reported on 7 October that it was due within days. Conab has not yet published its fourth survey of the 2026 crop.
- Brazil exported 3.93 million bags of green coffee in September 2026, up 20.4%, according to Secex data reported by Reuters on 6 October 2026.
- Green coffee export revenue was $1.29 billion in September 2026, up 8.7%, Reuters reported on 6 October 2026.
- Green and soluble exports together were 4.066 million bags in September 2026, Canal Rural reported on 6 October 2026.
- January to September 2026 exports were 26.796 million bags, down 4.6%, Canal Rural reported on 6 October 2026.
- December arabica settled at 304.45 US cents a pound on 6 October 2026, the Uganda Coffee Development Authority's daily report dated 7 October 2026 shows.
Photograph: PROJETO CAFÉ GATO-MOURISCO, Unsplash.
