New Dawn Traders began in 2012, with the opportunity to sail aboard the Irene of Bridgewater to transport olive oil from Portugal to Brazil. Despite this being a failed mission, this voyage opened the door to future success.

With the cost of living rising, and supermarkets dominating supply chains with “cheap” options, it’s easy to think the idea of transporting coffee and produce by sail cargo is an unrealistic one. However, over the past 12 years, consumer demands have shifted dramatically, and many businesses now place sustainability at the heart of their operations.

Creating a more sustainable and ethical supply chain is proving its worth against all odds. The Vermont Sail Freight Project, the Sail Transport Network in the United States, the Greenheart Project in Fiji, TOWT in France, Holland’s Fairtransport, and B9 Shipping are just a few of the pioneering initiatives in sail cargo.

The focus is on British, Irish, and Dutch shores, where independent coffee roasters such as Farm Hand Coffee, based in Dublin, and Yallah Coffee, based in Cornwall, have teamed up with sailors to connect communities on both sides of the Atlantic.

It’s not every morning — or even throughout the day — that we think about the impact of our cup of coffee. But in my opinion, it would be quite mind-blowing to open my coffee jar every day and know that it had travelled thousands of nautical miles to reach me.

When spending company funds with large multinational corporations, local communities and farmers certainly miss out on the economic benefits.

As a final consumer, or as a business, it’s impossible not to feel much more connected to the process and the people behind the product when coffee, tea, or any other commodity is shipped by sail. After all, our coffee only reaches us thanks to a crew going with the wind.

• Inês Coutinho, digital editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: ines@bellpublishing.com Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal

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After hitting a 50-year low in production in 2021/22,Costa Rica’s coffee output has been rebounding. The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agriculture Service estimates total production of approximately 1.44 million 60-kilogram bags of green coffee in 2023/24, which is up over 15 percent from two years ago. This increase is attributed to better plant management, positive initial flowering, and stabilised fertiliser costs.

Costa Rican producers have been actively innovating for the global specialty coffee market. For example, producers are responding to a trend towards increased product differentiation through microlots, which allow them to capture higher sales prices. The number
of coffee mills has increased from 184 in 2011/12 to 304 in 2021/22,with many new micro-mills
servicing small groups of farms.

Despite production increases, the number of coffee growers in Costa Rica continues to decline. As of 2021/22 (the most recent dataset), there were 26,704 farmers, down nearly 50 percent from 10 years earlier. Factors contributing to this decline include long periods of low coffee prices, aging farmers, and high land prices near urban areas.

The industry faces ongoing challenges with labour supply, particularly for harvesting. Most of the coffee harvest depends on large numbers of temporary foreign workers from Nicaragua and Panama. There have been concerns about changing immigration flows affecting labour availability.

Costa Rica’s economy is increasingly shifting towards services, with the tourism, pharmaceutical, and IT sectors growing rapidly. This economic diversification is providing more attractive employment options for the children of coffee farmers, potentially further impacting the future labour supply for coffee production.

The local Costa Rican currency’s depreciation has also negatively impacted the coffee industry.
The exchange rate has reached its lowest point in 14 years, reducing the competitiveness of Costa
Rican coffee on the international market and causing significant financial losses for exporters and mills.

Improving Resilience
Despite challenges, Costa Rica maintains its reputation for high-quality coffee. The country continues to participate in prestigious events like the Cup of Excellence, with some producers making it to the 2023 finals.

Climate change is threatening coffee-growing areas in Costa Rica, specifically the Coto Brus region. By 2050, absent adaptation measures, experts at the World Resources Institute (WRI) in Washington, DC maintain that climate change “will reduce the global areas suitable for growing coffee by about 50 percent.” An WRI study outlined key findings from this region, including some of the main challenges facing the coffee sector. It also examined existing factors that present opportunities to enhance climate resilience. The study recommends actions that can be taken to improve the sector’s climate resilience and long-term sustainability.
During the course of their research, the WRI’s team of researchers conducted a literature review, interviews, a workshop and field visits with coffee farmers, government ministries, funders, and other stakeholders.
Despite the study’s local focus, the lessons and experiences shared are relevant for other coffee-growing regions and countries: Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Vietnam, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Uganda, among others. These are the places where coffee producers are facing some of the harshest the effects of climate
change, and the researchers hope that it will serve as a tool and inspiration for accelerating adaptation action.

Despite the benefits of medium- and long term planning to accomplish the large-scale transformative changes, WRI’s experts concluded that the coffee sector will need to adapt to intensifying climate impacts. However, they found that most producers are integrating smaller, short-term, incremental adjustments that might not be sufficient in the long term.

WRI developed a program to assist Costa Rica’s government as it mapped out short-term, medium-term, and long-term adaptation pathways that are inclusive, equitable, and participatory. WRI developed a framework which underscores that, in some situations and locations, incremental adaptation measures will prove insufficient in the years to come to fully reduce growing risks from climate change impacts. In these situations, more fundamental, or transformative, changes – which may entail creating pathways toward new systems more suitable for changing climate conditions – will be needed to maintain the communities’ livelihoods in the long term. Such changes will often include shifting the mix of crops grown
and livestock raised in particular areas, employing substantially new technology at broad scale, and/or altering the production landscape from one type to another. The first year of WRI’s technical assistance
effort focused on stakeholder engagement, research, and in-country discussions via workshops to introduce the concept of transformative adaptation and establish a dialogue on climate adaptation, vulnerabilities, and impacts. These discussions were held with coffee producers, cooperatives, ministry
officials, research organisations, financing entities, and the private sector, among others.

Findings from these conversations are being used to inform the drafting of a national coffee strategy.
The focus of the second year of the project focused on the lessons learned from the coffee growing region of Coto Brus to better inform, guide, and finance climate resilience efforts for these communities, while extracting insights for other coffee-growing regions in the country.

Reviving Production in Coto Brus

The Coto Brus district, located in the Brunca region, is one of the country’s eight coffee growing areas identified by the Coffee Institute of Costa Rica (Instituto del Café de Costa Rica; ICAFE) and one of the smallest contributors to national production. Coto Brus was chosen by government counterparts in response to smallholder farmers’ requests for support and because this area has been experiencing a rapid decline in coffee production and is highly vulnerable to climate change. In the second year,
WRI conducted literature reviews, expert interviews, farm visits, and a full-day workshop in Coto Brus with key stakeholders.

By 2050,absent adaptation measures, up to half of the areas currently suitable for coffee cultivation in Coto Brus is predicted to become unsuitable across both low and high emissions
pathways scenarios. (For more details, consult the various research reports and studies published by Oriana Ovalle Rivera of the CATIE – Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza – which is located in Turrialba, Cartago, Costa Rica.) Central areas are projected to be more adversely affected while a few locations are projected to see an increase in suitability.

Efforts to increase Coto Brus coffee farmers’ resilience by addressing the most immediate climate change impacts have begun. However, few farmers incorporate adaptation into their planning and huge implementation gaps persist, despite a broad awareness of sustainable practices. According to interviewees, some farmers are further behind than others — especially smallholders with more limited
resources. Despite the benefits of medium-term and longer-term planning to accomplish the large
scale transformative changes the coffee sector will need to adapt to intensifying climate impacts, most producers and the sector are integrating smaller, shorter-term, incremental adjustments that might not be sufficient in the longer-term.

WRI’s study identified key recommendations to increase the short-term, medium-term, and long-term climate resilience of the coffee sector. The recommendations include:
• Promote adaptation options identified by local stakeholders, provide regular technical follow up, and support farmers in exploring additional medium-term and longer-term measures.
• Establish baselines and monitor the impacts of adaptation measures. Building the evidence of farms’ vulnerabilities while tracking the results of adaptation efforts can help maximise the allocation of limited resources over the short, medium, and long terms and inform where and when transformative pathways will be needed. Transformative pathways are coordinated sequences of short to-long-term actions or projects intended to prepare agricultural systems for unprecedented climate conditions.
• Map when and where coffee is likely to lose viability in the coming decades and explore transformative and equitable pathways toward climate resilience, with stakeholder participation (particularly relevant for MAG, ICAFE, and MINAE). At-risk farmers should be supported to experiment with different crops,
technologies, and even livelihoods like eco tourism that will serve them better over the longer term.
• Reinforce existing institutions and enabling factors to increase the uptake of adaptation measures and build greater resilience in Coto Brus. These include strengthening farmer associations and cooperatives, as well as farmer-to-farmer learning; promoting more strategic cross-sectoral alliances; and strengthening support for programs focused on sustainable practices.
• Develop farmer-tailored skills trainings and guidance to build farmers’ capacities to manage costs and access credit and financing, so they can more easily invest in adaptation measures.
• Create open communication channels within public and private entities to bridge crucial information flow gaps around climate risks, existing vulnerabilities, and options to support the implementation of adaptationmeasures. Providing producers with clear, complete, and practical information on different financing options is also essential.

• Gordon Feller, based in California, travels the world reporting about innovations that can change our economies and strengthen small enterprises. Since 1980 he’s been publishing
  reports and magazine articles about coffee/tea innovations on five continents. He is both an ABE Fellow – Japan Fdn and Global Fellow – The Smithsonian

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“We have noticed that many packages of coffee, whether green or industrialised, have been improperly labelled with the DO “Cerrado Mineiro,” which could compromise the region’s reputation and harm consumers choices, partners and producers. This is considered an infringement of the rules of the Federation of Coffee Growers of the Cerrado, which has its Designation of Origin registered by the INPI (National Institute of Industrial Property). That’s why we want to be closer to the different links in the chain to provide guidance on the processes for using controlled origin designation,” said Juliano Tarabal, executive director of the Federation of Coffee Growers of the Cerrado.

Campaign

One of the highlights of the campaign is also to increase the traceability of coffee lots, adding value to the product on national and international markets. Since 2013, the label of origin and quality has attested to the fact that the batch sold is certified in the Cerrado Mineiro region, according to the requirements established in the production process. The Designation of Origin policy establishes that all coffees that achieve at least 80 points and pass through the cooperatives will be certified, with the aim of increasing the supply of DO coffee in the market.

“The authenticity of Cerrado Mineiro coffee needs to be protected and it is a collective responsibility to guarantee the quality and history behind the region’s coffee. For us, as producers, it is very important that our partners and consumers know that they are drinking a real coffee of origin and quality, which has a beautiful story behind the cup. This brings value to our product, and the buyer asks for it,” says Augusto Faria, producer.

The campaign includes social media, videos, talks, printed materials and banners to engage as many people as possible around the world.

For the Cerrado Coffee Growers’ Cooperative (Expocacer), one of the supporters of this marketing action, traceability and certifications reaffirm the quality, attributes of the drink and good agricultural practices adopted by producers. “We are the first region in Brazil with a Designation of Origin, certifying that our coffee has a unique quality, characteristics and production methods. That’s why it’s so important that the DO is used correctly, as the campaign reinforces,” says Simão Pedro de Lima, executive president of Expocacer.

Designation of Origin

The Designation of Origin (DO) is a label of quality that identifies products originating in a specific region and which have unique and differentiated characteristics, resulted from geographical, climatic and cultural factors. In the case of coffee from the Cerrado Mineiro region, this certification guarantees that the product was grown and processed in the area of the 55 cities in the region and by one of the 4,500 producers, complying with strict standards of quality, sustainability and guaranteeing traceability.

“The campaign represents an effort to ensure that consumers receive quality products of certified origin, fighting against infringements, strengthening confidence in coffee from the Cerrado Mineiro region, as well as valuing the work of producers who follow the necessary requirements for getting the certification. We have enough potential to attend the demand of the global market, for which we have mapped the use of the Cerrado Mineiro Origin in 44 countries by more than 700 brands,” Tarabal concluded.

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The Signature collection complements the company’s diverse line of coffees, focusing specifically on small-batch seasonal single-origin offerings from across the globe. This is a project born out of passion and a love of the very best coffee. Farrer’s dedicated team of roasters have painstakingly handpicked and selected premium single-origin coffees from some of the most sought-after coffee crops produced from small single-estate plantations.

The latest additions to the range include Boa Vista, a coffee from Brazil, in South America. Boa Vista Farm is a 52-hectare farm run by Anderson Monteiro, whose family first became involved in coffee production in the 1970s and ever since has been producing quality innovative coffee. This particular coffee has a distinctive creamy body bursting with notes of tropical fruits, lemon and honey, rounded off with a floral finish.

The second coffee is from La Gloria Estate, in Panama, Central America. Finca La Gloria is located in the highlands of Boquete and is part of the estate owned by Norberto Suarez and his family. It was first registered as a farm in 1904 and has been growing in this renowned coffee-producing area ever since. This coffee has a smooth body, with some background citrus notes and flavours of tropical fruit and caramel.

The third coffee is Mubuga Natural from northern Burundi, in Central East Africa. Mubuga Washing Station, located in the Ngozi region of Burundi, is owned by Bugental, a family-owned farm-to-roaster business, which supplies a network of very small-scale farmers. This coffee is complex, with notes of blackcurrant, and stone fruits including ripe plums, finishing with hints of dark chocolate and smooth caramel.

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Uganda is the largest coffee exporter in Africa and the eighth largest exporter of coffee by volume in the world, yet when it comes to coffee-producing countries in Africa, Uganda is not the first one to come to mind. But the ‘Pearl of Africa’ is working diligently to change that. 

Uganda is focusing on doubling its total agricultural exports from USD $6.629 billion to USD $12 billion by 2027. Odrek Rwabwogo, chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID), in a presentation to an international group of journalists on a government-sponsored media tour of Uganda earlier this year, said that coffee is a top target for growth. PACEID advises President Yoweri Museveni on ways to improve and increase Uganda’s export potential in a variety of sectors. 

Historically, Uganda coffee has been used for blending and not identified, but the country wants to change that by improving quality. Within coffee, Uganda’s current exports are around $627 million annually, with the goal in five years being $1.5 billion — a 28 percent increase. Rwabwogo said that further goals include growing annual coffee production from approximately seven million bags to 20 million bags by 2030.

Currently, Uganda’s major coffee export is robusta. In August, its exports rose by 48.4 percent to 0.74 million bags from 0.5 million bags in August 2022, per the International Coffee Organization. This represents the second largest monthly exports on record, just behind the 0.79 million bags exported in March 1973. Although robusta is the largest export, Ugandan officials believe there is opportunity in premium coffee (arabica), roasted coffee and soluble/instant coffee. 

Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries has stated that coffee is a “strategic commodity in the agro-industrialisation programme under the National Development Plan III (NDP III)’. It has been prioritised for the country’s march towards middle-income status and poverty eradication programme.” The Ministry reported that coffee provides the needed foreign exchange and is a source of income for 1.8 million households in the country that are involved in its cultivation. 

The Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), which was established in 1991, monitors and regulates the country’s coffee industry, and advises the Ugandan government on policy issues. In addition to having the responsibility of increasing quality coffee production and productivity, the UCDA is also charged with growing domestic coffee consumption. Given that coffee has been identified as the leading commodity for growth, the UCDA has devised an aggressive roadmap –it includes nine initiatives (see chart below) – to elevate Uganda’s reputation in coffee and transform its coffee sector to achieve the stated growth goals. UCDA managing director, Dr Iyamulemye Emmanuel, said that the government is undertaking a number of measures to ensure that farmers are producing coffee that meets international market standards and requirements. He noted that Uganda is looking to export to emerging markets as well as developed markets. 

Challenges to achieving growth 

The goal to raise Uganda’s coffee reputation on the global stage is ambitious and the impediments to growth in most agricultural sectors are vast: overcoming long-held stereotypes, perceived low quality because of low-standard inputs (seeds, pesticides, chemicals, banned substances still being used, etc), lack of investment, no economies of scale, minimal understanding and sharing of information relating to regulations, weak cooperatives, high transportation costs (handling fees, limited infrastructure when receiving), and most commodities go to the low end of the market and take cost-cutting measure. 

Within coffee, the biggest challenges – aside from the average age of a coffee farmer being 63 – are the lack of branding (coffee is rarely identified as being from Uganda versus origins that are highlighted such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Colombia, Brazil, etc), changing the mindset of the producers who view coffee as just a cash crop (most producers don’t even sample their own coffee), and the perception of the global coffee industry, which views Ugandan coffee overall as low quality — but the potential is there. 

Mountain Harvest, an exporter, producer and provider of farmer services based in Mbale, aims to ‘challenge the status quo of coffee production in Uganda for the sake of smallholder farmers’ as its company mission asserts. “We want to show the market that Uganda has great coffee and that we can consistently deliver it,” said managing director, Kenneth Barigye. 

Mountain Harvest produces, processes and exports organic, Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance-certified coffee. It maintains eight processing facilities throughout Uganda, where it employs washed, natural and honey processing techniques. The Mt Elgon facilities are overseen by processing manager, Ibra Kiganda, who is also the 2023 African Fine Coffees Association barista champion. Kiganda is passionate about coffee processing and likes to experiment with anaerobic fermentation, carbonic maceration and other new techniques (using microlots grown at elevations between 1,600 and 2,200 meters above sea level). 

The majority of coffee producers in Uganda grow coffee on farms that average one acre at best, typically they are smaller. Mountain Harvest teaches producers, especially women – who do the bulk of the labour on smallholder farms in Uganda – better farming methods and techniques (such as stumping, pruning, irrigation, fertilising, using organic pesticides/weedicides, etc), and is working to change their mindsets when it comes to selling their coffee. The farmers are also taught the importance of intercropping with bananas, avocados and other trees that provide shade for the coffee as well as incremental revenue. 

Better livelihoods through better pricing 

Mountain Harvest provides micro-financing that educates producers on savings and loans, in addition to covering expenses in the off-season. The financial training builds their capacity to manage money while creating a transaction history the future lenders will require. “We are not an NGO — we do not give handouts,” asserted Barigye, noting the 2 percent interest loans the company offers to producers. “Our hope is that after three years, the farmers can go to a commercial bank that has more money.” 

The loans are ‘kick-starter financing’ for the farmers, but said Barigye, they also help build trust with the farmers so they will sell Mountain Harvest their cherries rather than process and accumulate coffee at their homes. 

Farmers receive more money for their coffee – about 20 percent more – if they sell Mountain Harvest the cherries rather than the parchment but are not always willing to do so. Company COO, Nico Herr, said that many farmers will think about when they will need money for the family (school clothes, books, etc) so they will hold onto the coffee and ‘play the market’ to see if someone else will offer them a higher price. “It is degrading the crop, but you have to consider that this is the traditional way of processing coffee in Uganda,” she explained, “we’re introducing a new way to do coffee.” 

Herr, a certified Q grader, shared that Mountain Harvest is also working to shed Uganda’s reputation for ‘fast fading’ coffees. Coffees that ‘tasted great’ on cupping tables in Mbale deteriorated during transportation oversees. They discovered that it was a warehousing issue. 

Mountain Harvest now has one of the few climate-controlled warehouses in the country and has grown over the past few years from filling three containers of coffee annually to 11. 

Recruiting youths is critical 

Instrumental to the growth of Uganda’s coffee industry is ensuring that younger generations remain interested in coffee farming and not all flee to urban areas for higher paying jobs. One factor in Uganda’s favour is that although the average age of a coffee farmer is 63, more than half the population is under the age of 18. 

“For us to have sustainable coffee production, we have to attract young people while their parents are still there to train them,” stressed Barigye. 

The government has extension programmes but it is overwhelmed so individual companies provide these services. Companies like Mountain Harvest, Endiro Coffee and Masha Coffee, with the support of the UCDA, are teaching Ugandans – both young and old – on all facets of the coffee industry: from proper farming techniques to elevate quality and improved processing and storage methods, to better record keeping, microfinancing, quality control, and how to cup, as well as training young men and women to be baristas. 

Coffee cupping at Mountain Harvest Coffee

Mountain Harvest selects the top 20 students from a local university each year to be trained in agronomy and microfinance. After six months of training and work, it offers permanent positions to the top achievers among those students. Another programme is its ‘Professional Pickers’, which hires local youth for assistance during the harvest and to do other tasks the remainder of the year. 

Ugandan officials and private sector companies realise, however, that the key to growing Uganda’s coffee industry, is through women. Women in Uganda, as in many coffee (and tea for that matter) producing countries, have not had a ‘seat at the table’. Women have long been heavily involved in the labour aspect of coffee production (picking and sorting for example) but have not had the opportunities for training and education or been involved with business transactions because of conflicting familial activities. 

Endiro Coffee and Masha Coffee are both female-owned and operated companies and work with women producers — training them in all segments of coffee production, hiring them, and of course, sourcing coffee from them. Mountain Harvest also taps women to be its team leaders (most farms are still owned by men) so they are also involved on the business side. 

“We have found that when the women handle the money, there is more for the children for clothing and school items, for food and savings,” said Millie Drijaru, head of coffee, Endiro Coffee. Both Barigye and Sylvia Achebet, executive director of Masha Coffee echo the sentiment. 

Endiro Coffee was founded in Kampala in 2012 by Gloria Katusiime as a café to provide employment opportunities to Ugandan youths. In 2014, Endiro switched from buying roasted coffee to sourcing green coffee directly from Ugandan farmers, paying them a premium for their high quality beans. It partnered with a roaster in Kampala for its blends. 

Endiro started with 50 farmers that formed the Endiro Growers Bukalasi Women’s Group, which has now grown to a network of more than 500 farmers across four growers groups throughout Uganda. Endiro offers training and support, and in return is receiving higher quality coffee and greater yields, which allows it to offer farmers better prices, thereby improving their livelihoods. Endiro Coffee, which received its B Corp certification in 2019, now operates 14 coffee shops in Uganda, one in Kenya and one in Aurora, Illinois. It plans to open its own roastery in Uganda this year. 

Kween-based Masha Coffee buys coffee cherries from a network of nearly 1,000 female-led farms –ranging in elevation from 1,800 to 2,400 meters above sea level – in the Kween, Kapchorwa and Bukwo districts. Masha sends field officers to train local farmers in best practices multiple times throughout the year. Trainers offer guidance on agronomy methods from planting seedlings to soil management to harvesting, etc, and said technical manager, Eunice Chekaptui, “how to be environmentally friendly,” – all to ensure a consistent supply, which benefits both Masha Coffee and the farmers. Masha Coffee also hires local youths to assist with production and processing in Kween. 

Endiro Coffee’s shop in Sipi Falls at Lacam Lodge

Masha Coffee has begun shipping roasted coffee to wholesale customers internationally and is exploring distribution opportunities in other countries, including the United States. The coffees Masha processes in Kween are carried in parchment to facilities in Mbale for hulling, and then to Kampala for roasting and packaging. Having to haul the coffee to so many different facilities and towns is costing Masha “time, money and security,” said Achebet, noting her dream would be “to have everything done here.” She said that having everything done in one place would reduce risks. First up would be purchasing a huller, with roasting being the final phase of the plan. 

Joining forces to meet demand 

Along with 16 other Uganda companies, Masha Coffee is a member of the Coffee Investment Consortium of Uganda (CICU), a Ugandan trade group that shares resources and connections to meet international demand. 

By collaborating to deliver higher volumes of higher quality Uganda coffee on the global market, the CICU’s mission is to attract investments specifically to cover expenses and the cost of exporting. Nelson Tugume, CEO of Inspire Africa and chairman of the CICU, said there is no export financing, no available or product-oriented credit. “Coffee is different from other commodities like bananas, from a manufacturing and housing [perspective], therefore you need a particular [type] of financing.” 

PACEID is consulting with financial groups and institutions, including lenders, equity funds, foundations and the Uganda Bankers’ Association to develop an export credit fund that will provide affordable financing for producers of coffee and other products. And while many are hopeful such a fund will be established and available soon, the CICU believes time is of the essence. “[International] buyers are saying they want to buy the coffee directly, [but are asking] ‘do you have what it takes?’,” said Tugume. He shared that Uganda needs to create a better environment for investors to bring in the financing. “In terms of production, the farmers can manage it, if you give them a better price. They can manage it at the production level, [but the difficulty] is in the market.” 

The UCDA, along with Mountain Harvest Coffee, Endiro Coffee, Masha Coffee and other CICU members firmly believe that as more companies start producing higher quality, Uganda’s profile will be elevated. “The market is going to know Uganda as an origin,” said Barigye, “and it’s going to appreciate Uganda as an origin because we have great coffees.” 

•  Vanessa L Facenda joined T&CTJ in 2012 as editor. She was previously editor of Retail Merchandiser and has written for a variety of magazines including Consumer Reports, Brandweek, Adweek, Hollywood Reporter, and Specialty Food Magazine, among many others. She may be reached at: vanessa@bellpublishing.com. 

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Green Coffee Price
The ICO Composite Indicator Price (I-CIP) averaged 151.94 US cents/lb in October, a 0.8% decline from September 2023. The I-CIP posted a median value of 151.58 US cents/lb, having fluctuated between 145.99 and 160.09 US cents/lb.

The Colombian Milds and Other Milds increased by 0.5% and 0.2%, to 185.97 and 183.95 US cents/lb, respectively, in October 2023. The Brazilian Naturals presented the strongest growth of 0.9%, reaching an average of 155.52 US cents/lb. However, Robustas retracted 4.1% to 118.83 US cents/lb. ICE’s New York market grew by 1.5% whilst the London Futures market shrank by 3.4%, to 155.91 and 105.40 US cents/lb, respectively.

The Colombian Milds-Other Milds differential grew 38.5% to 2.02 US cents/lb. The Colombian Milds-Brazilian Naturals differential shrank 1.1% to 30.45 US cents/lb, whilst the Colombian Milds-Robustas differential also expanded 9.9% from September to October 2023, averaging 67.14 US cents/lb. Meanwhile, the Other Milds-Brazilian Naturals differential contracted 3.1%, reaching 28.43 US cents/lb. However, the Other Milds-Robustas and the Brazilian Naturals-Robustas differentials expanded 9.2% and 21.1%, averaging 65.12 and 36.69 US cents/lb, respectively, in October 2023.

Arbitrage, as measured between the London and New York Futures markets, widened by 13.7% to 50.51 US cents/lb in October 2023.

Intra-day volatility of the I-CIP remained stable at 6.3% between September and October 2023. The Colombian Milds’ and Other Milds’ volatility also increased to 6.8% and 7.6%. Meanwhile, the Brazilian Naturals’ volatility rose by 0.5 percentage points to 8.6% from September to October 2023. The Robustas presented the smallest volatility increase, with a 0.1 percentage point gain, averaging 7.5% for the month of October. The London Futures market’s volatility decreased by 0.6 percentage points to 6.7%. Lastly, the New York futures market’s volatility moved in the opposite direction to that of London, expanding by 0.4 percentage points and reaching 8.1%.

The New York and London certified stocks moved in the same downward direction, where London retracted by 7.9% to 0.67 million 60-kg bags, whilst certified stocks of Arabica coffee reached 0.44 million 60-kg bags, a 10.7% decrease and the lowest figure since October 2022.

Exports by Coffee Groups – Green Beans
Global green bean exports in September 2023 totalled 7.8 million bags, as compared with 8.83 million bags in the same month of the previous year, down 11.6%. For coffee year 2022/23, exports of green beans were down 5.5% to 110.81 million bags from 117.28 million bags in coffee year 2021/22. The global macro-economic environment was not conducive to consumer confidence in coffee year 2022/23, with global inflation and interest rates in many of the key advanced economies high and rising, increasing the cost of living and thus reducing disposable income levels for a very large section of the world.

These conditions seemingly support a downturn in the consumption of coffee and consequently in global exports of green beans. Nevertheless, the global economy was not only projected to expand in calendar year 2023, but the outlook was also raised between April–October 2023 by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which suggests otherwise. The drop in global exports of green beans in coffee year 2022/23 may therefore lie more with logistics/the supply chain than the economy and actual consumption of coffee. Average green bean exports amounted to 118.13 million bags in coffee years 2018/19–2021/22, as compared with an average 109.59 million bags for coffee years 2014/15–2017/18, a jump of 8.54 million bags. This suggests a build-up of stocks in non-producing countries which have been heavily drawn down in the past 12 months.

Shipments of the Other Milds decreased by 13.1% in September 2023 to 1.57 million bags from 1.8 million bags in the same period last year. For coffee year 2022/23, exports of the Other Milds were down 12.1% to 22.11 million bags from 25.16 million bags in coffee year 2021/22. Green bean exports of the Brazilian Naturals decreased in September 2023, falling by 13.4% to 2.69 million bags. For coffee year 2022/23, exports of the Brazilian Naturals were down 8.5% to 34.17 million bags from 37.33 million bags in coffee year 2021/22. Exports of the Colombian Milds increased by 6.7% to 0.87 million bags in September 2023 from 0.82 million bags in September 2022. For coffee year 2022/23, exports of the Colombian Milds were down 11.2% to 10.77 million bags from 12.14 million bags in coffee year 2021/22. For coffee year 2022/23, total green bean exports of the Arabicas were down 10.1% to 67.05 million bags from 74.63 million bags in coffee year 2021/22.

Overall, for the Arabicas, exports were seemingly negatively affected by the drawdown of stocks in consuming countries, with buyers staying away from the markets in coffee year 2022/23. Furthermore, substitution towards the more competitively priced Robustas, induced by the increased cost of living and reduced disposable income, would have also added to the downturn (see Green Coffee Price).

Exports of the Colombian Milds fell below the 11.0 million bags mark for the first time since coffee year 2012/13. These exports were primarily driven by Colombia, the main origin of this group of coffee, and weather-related disruption affected supply throughout most of coffee year 2022/23. Indeed, Colombia’s green bean exports contracted for the first 11 months of coffee year 2022/23, with only September 2023 showing an expansion. Figures for the year show that, overall, the country’s exports declined 13.1% to 9.42 million bags, the first time they have dropped below 10.0 million bags since coffee year 2013/14.

Green bean exports of the Robustas amounted to 2.67 million bags in September 2023, as compared with 3.09 million bags in September 2022, down 13.8%. For coffee year 2022/23, exports of the Robustas were up 2.6% to 43.76 million bags from 42.66 million bags in coffee year 2021/22. Of the four groups of coffee, the Robustas were the only group to experience positive growth in coffee year 2022/23, benefitting from macro-economic-induced substitution away from less competitively priced Arabicas.

The September 2023 exports represent the lowest September volume for the Robustas since the 2.58 million bags shipped in 2012 and were a result of the 43.4% decrease in exports from Vietnam, the world’s largest producer and exporter of the group, which only shipped 0.81 million bags – the lowest September exports since 2008 (0.79 million bags). Vietnam has been struggling with supply since the start of Q4 of coffee year 2022/23, when very low in-origin stock levels were reported at a time when the start of the harvest still remained three to four months away. The low September 2023 export levels appear to be a continuation of the industry’s deepening struggle with supply issues.

Exports by Regions – All Forms of Coffee
In September 2023, South America’s exports of all forms of coffee decreased by 3.4% to 4.74 million bags. For coffee year 2022/23, the region’s exports were down 11.0% to 50.59 million bags from 56.83 million bags in coffee year 2021/22. The region’s two largest producers and exporters, Brazil and Colombia, saw their total exports fall by 7.9% and 12.8%, respectively. South America’s fortunes are closely tied to the fortunes of the Arabicas and many of the same factors that explain the latter’s double-digit fall also explain the former’s. After all, from coffee year 2018/19 to 2022/23, 93.2% of the total green bean exports from South America were Arabicas, on average. The drawdown of stocks in consuming countries and substitution towards the Robustas are the two main factors. Two specific and additional factors are that (i) Brazil’s export performance was poor due to its relatively limited supply following two consecutive years of below-par harvests; and (ii) Colombia struggled with weather-impacted supply conditions that negatively affected the origin’s export volume.

Exports of all forms of coffee from Africa decreased by 1.9% to 1.21 million bags in September 2023 from 1.23 million bags in September 2022. For coffee year 2022/23, the region’s exports were down 1.4% to 13.53 million bags from 13.73 million bags in coffee year 2021/22. The relatively strong global demand for Robustas was the fundamental source of Africa’s positive export growth rate in coffee year 2022/23. Moreover, particularly during Q4 of coffee year 2022/23, the reduced volume of exports from the Asia and Oceania region, and more pointedly from Vietnam, strengthened Africa’s own export performance. Uganda, the largest producer and exporter of Robusta coffee in Africa, took the opportunity to fill the gap in the market left by Vietnam and the Asia and Oceania region as a whole.

In September 2023, exports of all forms of coffee from Mexico and Central America were down 9.2% to 0.74 million bags as compared with 0.81 million bags in September 2022. For coffee year 2022/23, the region’s exports were down 3.1% to 15.3 million bags from 15.78 million bags in coffee year 2021/22. The downturn was primarily driven by Guatemala and Mexico, which suffered 11.5% and 16.5% decreases, respectively. However, the mitigating factor that limited the region’s fall in exports to a low single-digit decrease was Honduras’ 13.5% increase.

Exports of all forms of coffee from Asia and Oceania decreased by 35.7% to 1.91 million bags in September 2023 as compared with 2.98 million bags in September 2022. For coffee year 2022/23, the region’s exports were down 0.9% to 43.56 million bags from 43.95 million bags in coffee year 2021/22. Asia and Oceania’s fortunes are closely tied to the fortunes of the Robustas and many of the same factors that explain the latter’s single-digit increase also explain the former’s. From coffee year 2018/19 to 2022/23, 89.1% of the total green bean exports from Asia & Oceania were Robustas, on average. In coffee year 2022/23, Vietnam’s exports were up 0.4% to 28.29 million bags from 28.19 million bags in coffee year 2021/22.

Exports of Coffee by Forms
Total exports of soluble coffee decreased by 27.3% in September 2023 to 0.75 million bags from 1.03 million bags in September 2022. For coffee year 2022/23, soluble coffee exports were down 5.7% to 11.47 million bags from 12.16 million bags in coffee year 2021/22.

Soluble coffee’s share in the total exports of all forms of coffee for the year to date was 8.7% in September 2023, down from 10.4% for the same period a year ago. For coffee year 2022/23, soluble coffee’s share of the total exports was 9.3%, the same as in coffee year 2021/22. Brazil is the largest exporter of soluble coffee, having shipped 0.27 million bags in September 2023 and 3.77 million bags in coffee year 2022/23.

Exports of roasted beans were down 26.7% in September 2023 to 55,203 bags, as compared with 75,355 bags in September 2022. For coffee year 2022/23, roasted coffee exports were down 16.0% to 0.71 million bags from 0.84 million bags in coffee year 2021/22.

Production and Consumption
Under the current circumstances, the estimates and outlook of production and consumption for coffee years 2021/22 and 2022/23 remain the same.

World coffee production decreased by 1.4% to 168.5 million bags in coffee year 2021/22, hampered by the off-biennial production and negative meteorological conditions in a number of key origins. However, it is expected to bounce back by 1.7% to 171.3 million bags in 2022/23. Increased global fertiliser costs and adverse weather conditions are expected to partially offset the positive impact of biennial production from Brazil, explaining the relatively low rate of growth in coffee year 2022/23.

The impact of biennial production is anticipated to drive the outlook for Arabica, which is projected to increase by 4.6% to 98.6 million bags in coffee year 2022/23, following a 7.2% decrease in the previous coffee year. Reflecting its cyclical output, Arabica’s share of the total coffee production is expected to increase to 57.5% from 55.9% in coffee year 2021/22. South America is and will remain the largest producer of coffee in the world, despite suffering from the largest drop in output for almost 20 years, which fell by 7.6% in coffee year 2021/22. The recovery in coffee year 2022/23, partly driven by biennial production, is expected to push the region’s output to 82.4 million bags, a rise of 6.2%.

World coffee consumption increased by 4.2% to 175.6 million bags in coffee year 2021/22, following a 0.6% rise the previous year. Release of the pent-up demand built up during the Covid-19 years and sharp global economic growth of 6.0% in 2021 explains the sharp bounce back in coffee consumption in coffee year 2021/22. Decelerating world economic growth rates for 2022 and 2023, coupled with the dramatic rise in the cost of living, will have an impact on the coffee consumption for coffee year 2022/23. It is expected to grow, but at a decelerating rate of 1.7% to 178.5 million bags. The global deceleration is expected to come from non-producing countries, with Europe’s coffee consumption predicted to suffer the largest decrease among all regions, with growth rates falling to 0.1% in coffee year 2022/23 from a 6.0% expansion in coffee year 2021/22.

As a result, the world coffee market is expected to run another year of deficit, a shortfall of 7.3 million bags.

The outlook is taken from the newest publication of the Statistics Section of the Secretariat of the International Coffee Organization (ICO), the Coffee Report and Outlook (CRO). To download the full CRO or for more information, visit the ICO website: icocoffee.org.

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Oritain’s innovative forensic science provides a guarantee of Brazilian coffee’s provenance and origin no matter where it ends up in the world. Building on existing provenance mapping work in Brazil with Nestlé and the Federation of Coffee Growers of Cerrado Mineiro, this initiative puts Brazil at the forefront of scientific traceability in coffee. Through this work with the BSCA, Oritain will be able to ascertain, at any point in the supply chain, the origin of Brazilian coffee at both a national and regional level, providing a new level of assurance and transparency to buyers and consumers.

Regulation is demanding origin verification. Verification systems put in place by BSCA and Oritain are compliant with recent European Union anti-deforestation regulations, which veto imports that do not comply with environmental requirements.

Consumers too are demanding proof of origin. Research commissioned by Oritain in May 2023 indicated that Brazilian consumers are deeply concerned about the origin of their products, especially coffee. It showed that 96.9% of respondents were positive toward manufacturers that disclose origin; and 78.2% considered that a product is only truly sustainable if its origin is known.  Coffee lovers in markets such as Europe, North America, New Zealand and Australia are also demanding proveable actions from coffee brands with regards to sustainability.

Vincius Estrela, executive director of Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association, shared the announcement; “Putting in place traceability systems is an essential way of walking the walk and avoiding greenwashing accusations. Sanctity of Brazilian origin is essential to our specialty coffee growers, roasters and exporters. Brazilian coffee is exported all over the world. We are looking for a way to provide a guarantee to regulators, investors, buyers and most importantly our valued customers all over the world that our coffee is 100% Brazilian and compliant with international regulations to combat deforestation, environmental harm, unethical labour practices and food fraud.

“Our partnership with Oritain and the ‘Oritain Fingerprint’ gives our customers, investors and partners 100% confidence that the coffee they enjoy every day is ethically sourced, environmentally positive and of Brazil. For BSCA, it supports our claim that Brazilian coffee is true to source, from earth to cup, we have always been able to taste the difference – today we can prove it scientifically, even at regional level.”

Pioneered in New Zealand, Oritain has become the global leader in applying forensic science and data to verify product origin.

Commenting on the partnership Oritain CEO, Grant Cochrane said “Oritain is delighted to be partnering with the Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association to leverage the integrity of forensic science for the benefit of award-winning Brazilian regional coffees. Oritain and Nestlé Brazil launched a partnership that covered three Brazilian regions in June this year. BSCA is building on this work and paving the way for coffee consumers worldwide to benefit from unmatched traceability of Brazilian coffee, which we can scientifically prove at farm, regional and country level. The strategic vision and commitment to the project by BSCA is key to establishing Brazil as a global leader in coffee traceability.”

How does it work?
Wherever you are in the world, the geochemistry of the land differs, even in the case of parcels of land that are only a few metres apart. As coffee grows, it absorbs a unique ratio of elements depending on the mesoclimate, altitude, precipitation, soil type and growing conditions. Using cutting edge forensic science, Oritain can identify this unique ratio in the soil that is ‘imprinted’, creating an unchanging scientific link that runs through the land, the beans and the eventual cup of coffee.

The BSCA partnership with Oritain will map key coffee regions of Brazil based on these geochemical elements, to create origin fingerprints that can be then used to test against.

Gabriela Castro-Fontoura, Oritain regional director for Latin America said, “Coffee lovers around the world demand to know that the coffee in their cup comes from its claimed region, is the genuine article and has not been a part of deforestation or unethical labour practices. Oritain’s partnership with BSCA means the Brazilian coffee industry can now offer buyers, traders, importers and roasters all over the world an enhanced level of traceability – which they can share with consumers, regulators and investors. At any stage of the supply chain, Oritain can verify and guarantee, with forensic science, the origin of the coffee at a regional level, no matter how many transactions are involved or how complex the market is. BSCA has paved the way for Brazilian producers and exporters, but also for importers, roasters and brands worldwide, to work with Oritain to share the outcomes of this origin mapping work with their customers, regulators and investors.”

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Cafédirect has been focused on ethical coffee trading in the UK since it was founded in 1991, becoming the first coffee brand in the country to carry the Fairtrade mark. In 2018, the Cafédirect management team made the strategic decision to focus on provenance, increasing efforts to build sales of their top-selling lines Machu Picchu and Kilimanjaro coffee in the grocery supermarket sector.

“For Cafédirect, this proved to be a fortuitous decision, as hot beverage sales in the grocery sector grew rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2022,” said Professor Bob Doherty, a fair trade expert from the University of York’s School for Business and Society. “People started working from home and hospitality closed. Machu Picchu sales grew from £3m in 2017 to £12m by the end of 2022. In addition, Cafédirect sales overall grew from £8m to £18m, driven by increased sales in supportive supermarket chains such as Sainsbury’s, Co-op and Waitrose. The Co-op also decided to stock Machu Picchu coffee in all of their stores, helping raise sales from £300k to £2.2m between 2018-2023.”

At the same time, hot beverage companies which specialised in food service/out of home such as Grumpy Mule in Meltham, Yorkshire (owned by Irish hot beverage company Bewley’s) declined rapidly as venues shut down almost entirely in the pandemic.

In late 2022, Cafédirect entered into discussions with Bewley’s with a view to acquiring the Grumpy Mule business in the UK. This made strategic sense as Grumpy Mule were strong in food service, and had a manufacturing packing facility with a much greater capacity than Cafédirect. The Cafédirect London Fields facility has the capacity to roast approx. 400 tonnes per annum. In comparison, the Grumpy Mule facility in Meltham can roast 4,000 tonnes per annum. In addition, Cafédirect already had a strategic relationship with Bewley’s who have manufactured the Cafédirect retail coffee in Dublin for the past 16-years.

On 7 June 2023, Cafédirect acquired Grumpy Mule. Cafédirect and Bewley’s also came to a ten-year supply agreement on Cafédirect retail coffee. Cafédirect agreed to maintain the roasting operation in Meltham in Yorkshire. The acquisition was supported by Cafédirect investors Oikocredit and Triodos bank.

“All in all, this has been quite the turnaround for a company that in 2015 lost business in Tesco and Asda with key lines being destocked, and in 2016 carried out a rights issue with Triodos bank to raise funds,” says Doherty. “Cafédirect now has two commercial directors for grocery and food service, and the business has an annual turnover of over £30m, all providing increased returns to producers via the gold standard.”

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Top Notes: Roses and camphor
Middle Notes: Sweet eucalyptus, layered with honey and brown sugar
Bottom Notes: Citrus and sweet mint.

Even among the unique flavours of Nepali black teas, the Rose Label Reserve stands apart. Earning its luxury status with its rich and complex flavours, says the company, this tea also comes with a prestigious history and a unique story of discovery.

The rare Bannockburn-157 cultivar from which this tea was hand-plucked has a prestigious history in Nepal. This special cultivar was gifted to a Nepali king decades ago and carefully reared on tea gardens in Eastern Nepal. However, it was the work of a young tea maker, who was only 19-years-old at the time, Nikesh Gurung’s experimental crafting process that highlighted the complex rose notes in these tea leaves.

For this year’s harvest of the Rose Label Reserve, the Bannockburn-157 cultivar, along with several other Wild Assamica cultivars growing in Eastern Nepal, were sequestered and carefully reared and hand-plucked during the summer months. The dry leaves, black with a red-tint, exude a delicate fragrance once steeped in hot water, brewing into deep-red liquor that is perfect to serve on special occasions.

“This tea is the embodiment of our passion for creating exceptional teas,” expressed Nishchal Banskota, founder of Nepal Tea Collective. “The Rose Label Reserve is a testament to the skill and dedication of our tea artisans, and we are thrilled to present this luxurious tea to tea enthusiasts worldwide.”

The Rose Label Reserve is available at USD $100 for 100 grams, for a limited time only. To purchase the Rose Label Reserve, please visit the Nepal Tea Collective website.

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