Poor Farmer

By Jason McLure Bloomberg August 31, 2009 Coffee exports from Ethiopia, Africa’s largest producer of the beans, are expected to rebound to about 171,000 metric tons this year after shipments fell to their lowest level in six years last year, an official with the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange said. “Early assessments indicate a very good potential for a bumper harvest of coffee,” said Eleni Gabre-Madhin, chief executive officer of the Addis Ababa-based exchange, in an interview on Aug. 29. “We are expecting at least 2007/2008 tonnage.” Shipments fell from 170,888 tons in 2007/2008 to 133,993 last year after a drought cut production and Japanese importers largely stopped buying Ethiopian coffee after finding high levels of pesticide residues in shipments. Better rains this year in the main coffee-growing areas will lead to more production during the country’s October to December harvest. Ethiopian coffee trees will also produce more due to their cyclical nature, in which harves...

Eleni Gabre-Medhin: 'If we can distribute what we have, I think we are further along in reaching food security.' So far, I have been reluctant to conclude that ECX's coffee trade adventure was not only illogical but also off target. I am now tending to believing that what I had feared all along is actually happening: ECX is derailed off track. The IPS (Inter Press Service News Agency) interview with Dr. Eleni Gebre-Medhin (below) sheds light on some interesting aspects of ECX including the disconnect between its goals and vision and between ECX's metrics for measuring its performance and the publics' expectations. While reading the excerpts of the interview, the first problem that popped ou at me is that ECX's stated goals are not aligned to its vision (which is also different from the one on ECX's website). Just below is an outline of what I made out of the interview followed by a list of my questions: Objectives of ECX: "Grant smallholder fa...

New Colombia coffee czar sees no Starbucks deal for now By Luis Jaime Acosta Reuters via Forbes August 27, 2009 BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombian's new coffee chief Thursday said the national federation had no plans for now to purchase shares in U.S. chain Starbucks Corp. as a way to better its distribution to the major U.S. market. Previous director Gabriel Silva had said Colombia, the world's No. 3 exporter, and other coffee-growing associations in Brazil and Central America were considering purchasing a share in Starbucks to improve their distribution network. "For now, the subject of buying shares is a closed subject," National Federation of Coffee Growers director Luis Genaro Munoz told reporters after he was elected into the post by the group's regional committees on Thursday. Munoz, a federation veteran who says he will follow Silva's policy line, was competing against Luis Guillermo Echeverri, a Colombian representative to the InterAmerican...

By Zach Dyer in Drink Drank Drunk, Java Enabled August 26, 2009 Like Champagne and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe coffee takes its name from the region where it's grown. Sweet, fruity and well-balanced Yirgacheffe has become a household name among coffee aficionados. Now, due to changes in how Ethiopia regulates its coffee market, Yirgacheffe has grown much bigger. Ethiopia trademarked the Yirgacheffe name in 2006 in an attempt to capitalize on the region's reputation. Then, in December 2008, the Ethiopian government mandated that all coffee be sold through a national coffee board, known as the Ethiopian Coffee Exchange (EXC). While the mechanics of all these political and business maneuvers might sound obtuse to the average coffee drinker, they could have a serious impact on whether your coffee truly originates where it claims to originate. Why bother with a national exchange in the first place? The global coffee industry is plagued by unscrupu...

Photo: Courtesy of Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News The Associated Press August 17, 2009 WASHINGTON - Starbucks Corp. spent $130,000 in the second quarter to lobby on import tariffs, food labeling and other issues, according to a recent disclosure report. The ubiquitous gourmet coffee chain also lobbied the federal government on legislation related to trade, taxes on foreign income, health reform, employee retirement, union organization measures and environmental matters. In the April-June period, the Seattle-based merchant lobbied Congress, the Commerce Department, State Department and the U.S. Trade Representative, according to the report filed July 17 with the House clerk's office. Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

SCAA co-hosts first-ever Specialty coffee & tea convention for the Middle East International Conference and Exhibition Set for Dubai, the Gateway to the Middle East’s Coffee and Tea Industry Press Release August 12, 2009 The first-ever Specialty Coffee & Tea Convention for the Middle East takes place Nov. 10 – 12, 2009 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The conference is co-organized by the Specialty Coffee Association of America, the world’s largest coffee trade association, and International Conferences & Exhibitions LLC, one of the Middle East’s pioneering and well respected convention management firms. The Specialty Coffee & Tea Convention is expected to draw the largest gathering of coffee and tea traders from the Middle East and other international markets. The program features in-depth educational lectures and workshops, a focused coffee and tea exhibition, and a wide range of opportunities for networking, business sourcing and market intelligence. The three-d...

A worker selects arabica coffee beans at Conquista farm in Alfenas in Brazil, July 7, 2008. Courtesy: REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker By Sharon Lindores Reuters August 13, 2009 LONDON (Reuters) - Total global coffee output in 2009/10 is forecast to stand at around 127 million bags, against 127.288 million in 2008/09, the International Coffee Organization (ICO) said in its latest monthly report on Thursday. "There has been good export performance by Brazil, and Vietnam, while Colombian availability has continued to be below average due to weather conditions," the report said. "Some reduction in exports has also been observed from Africa and Central America." The arabica crop for 2009/10 in Brazil is 70 percent harvested and is expected to produce 39.1 million bags, down from 35.5 million bags in the previous year. This is due to the biennial cycle. The estimated production of robustas in Brazil for 2009/10 rose to 10.8 million bags from 10.5 million bags in the previous year,...

Part I Part II Is ECX Good for Coffee Growers? The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) was established with an ambitious goal of eliminating food shortages and hunger in Ethiopia by creating an efficient marketing system for agricultural commodities. Barely two months after its launch, the highly praised exchange platform found itself caught in the midst of the complex global coffee trade, an undertaking that is entirely different and farther from its original vision of "revolutionizing" the inefficient domestic commodity market. In August 2008, the government enacted a new law that forces the trading of all of the country's coffees through ECX and ECX welcomed the decision. Since then, the government confiscated stocks of coffee from exporters and revoked licenses, filled in the vacuum with the Ethiopian Grain Trade Enterprise (EGTE), and sold Specialty coffees at commodity grade coffee prices. Following its first rough encounter, ECX is now engaged in talks with Spec...