Higher freight costs and Covid-19 impact Tata Coffee’s earnings

Tata Coffee Ltd reported a 26% decline in profit due to Covid-19 and freight disruption globally | Photo credit: Arne Hückelheim

Reporting its financial performance for the quarter ended June 30 2021, Tata Coffee said profits fell by over one quarter to Rs 460m ($6.2m), compared to Rs 620m ($8.3m) over the same period in 2020. 

Tata Coffee attributed the substantial decline to Covid-19 and higher shipping costs disrupting its domestic and international supply chains.  
 

"Despite challenging conditions, our overall performance has been stable. Our India Instant Coffee exports for the quarter have been higher despite logistics issues and inflationary impacts on input costs and ocean freight costs,” said TCL Managing Director Chacko P Thomas. 
 

"We have seen stable performances across key geographies. Our Vietnam operations continue to improve, and the order pipeline continues to be healthy,” Thomas, added. 
 
Founded in 1922, Tata Coffee is a subsidiary of Tata Consumer Products. It is Asia's largest integrated coffee company, and the second largest exporter of instant coffee and a leading producer of specialty coffee in India. The company operates two instant coffee production facilities in India, and a further site in Vietnam. It also operates 19 coffee plantations across 8,000 hectares in India.  
 

Tata Coffee, which also has interests in tea and pepper production, generated $106bn in revenues in 2019-20, according to the company website.