Colombia produced 13.6 million 60-kg bags of washed arabica coffee in 2018, the coffee federation said on Friday, below production the year before and under the federation's estimate for the year. The slide was due to a mild La Nina weather phenomenon which affected coffee areas that harvest in the later half of the year, the federation said in a statement. La Nina typically causes heavy rains in the Andean country.

The federation had predicted output of 13.8 or 13.9 million bags for last year. Production in 2017 was 14.2 million bags. Exports for the year were down a slight 1.4 percent in 2018, to 12.8 million bags, compared with exports of 12.9 million bags in 2017.

Copyright Reuters, 2019