BRAZIL COFFEE EXPORTS DISRUPTED BY STRIKE

  An 11-day-old strike by
  Brazilian seamen is affecting coffee shipments and could lead
  to a short term supply squeeze abroad, exporters said.
      They could not quantify how much coffee has been delayed
  but said at least 40 pct of coffee exports are carried by
  Brazilian ships and movement of foreign vessels has also been
  disrupted by port congestion caused by the strike.
      A series of labor disputes and bad weather has meant
  Brazil's coffee exports have been running at an average two
  weeks behind schedule since the start of the year, one source
  added.
      By the end of February shipments had fallen 800,000 bags
  behind registrations, leaving around 2.4 mln bags to be shipped
  during March. By March 10 only 230,000 bags had been shipped,
  the sources said.
      Given Brazil's port loading capacity of around 100,000 bags
  a day, even if normal operations were resumed immediately and
  not interrupted by bad weather, some March registered coffee
  will inevitably be shipped during April, they added.
  

