Poor Farmer

By Desire Nimubona Bloomberg December 11, 2011 Burundi’s coffee growers threatened to stop selling produce unless they are granted a controlling stake in the East African nation’s washing stations, said Joseph Ntirampeba, president of the farmers’ association. The country started selling its coffee-washing and purification plants to closely held companies in 2009, with Webcor Ltd., a Swiss company, buying 13 stations. Burundi in November said it plans to sell the remaining 133 stations. Farmers should hold a controlling stake in the plants as they have paid a tax of 60 Burundian francs ($0.04) per kilogram of coffee cherries since the 1980s to pay for the construction of the stations, Ntirampeba, who leads the National Federation of Coffee-Growing Associations of Burundi, known as CNAC, said by phone Dec. 9 from Bujumbura, the capital. “We are not ready to give our coffee freely when we are not really involved,” he said. “Coffee is our business, our efforts,...

Last year, in an interview with the Voice of America's Amharic Service, Ethiopia Commodity Exchange CEO Eleni Gabre-Madhin told the radio that farmers in Ethiopia do not pay any taxes. "As far as I know, farmers in Ethiopia do not pay taxes " said she. That is not true. According to applicable tax laws, individual farmers and agricultural producer cooperatives with a gross annual earning of as little as Birr 600 (USD35) are required to pay agricultural income tax. Additionally, farmers pay a fixed annual land use tax and variable sales taxes which are indirectly passed on to them by businesses. Below is excerpts from a study titled "Taxation in Ethiopia" published in January 2005 by Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce (ECC) and Ethiopian Business Development Services Network (EBDSN) on behalf of German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and Partnership Project Rhein-Main Chamber, Germany and ECC (with SEQUA). --- Agricultural Income Tax According to P...

By Wondwossen Mezlekia  (Contact at: poorfarmer@gmail.com ) December 5, 2011 The Government of Ethiopia has recently issued yet another directive that is filled with ambiguity and disregard to proper implementation of trade policies that affect everyone in the logistics supply chain. The story was first broken by Sprudge last week in the article " An End to Lot Separation In Ethiopia? " The directive is difficult to comprehend in more ways than one. First, the letter uses "bulk container" and "loose container" interchangeably and without distinction. Technically, these terms represent two distinct means of cargo shipment and the directive could have serious implications depending on which term is intended to go into effect. "Bulk container" often refers to the movement of coffee in bulk, using normal dry containers fitted with a liner, whereas shipping coffee in a "loose container" (also known as, Loose Container Loa...

By   Forexpros  via Daily Markets December 5, 2011 Forexpros – Coffee futures advanced on Monday, as adverse weather conditions in top growers Brazil and Colombia underlined concerns over declining global coffee supplies. On the ICE Futures Exchange, Arabica coffee for March delivery traded at USD2.3105 a pound during U.S. morning trade, climbing 0.62%. It earlier rose by as much as 1.15% to trade at a daily high of USD2.3275 a pound. The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, or Fedecafe, said that the country’s coffee output was likely to be flat in the 2011-12 marketing season that began on October 1, as heavy rains damaged coffee plants. According to the group, Colombia’s coffee production in the current marketing year will total 8.5 million 60-kilogram bags, the same as in the previous season. Luis Genaro Munoz, general manager of Fedcafe said, “We don’t expect to increase production. The weather this year has been worse than last...

Coffee price rises not as harsh as expected, study finds The results of the 2011 September Quarter Gilkatho Cappuccino Price Index are in, and while there has been an average price hike of 15 cents per take away cup, this is better than what the market had predicted. Hospitality Magazine December 5, 2011 The Index showed an average price increase of 15 cents per cup for take away coffee and 17 cents per cup for dine-in during the past 12 months across Australia, and while Gilkatho managing director, Wayne Fowler admits that 63.1 per cent of the coffee shops surveyed had increased their prices in the past year, they were not as high as originally predicted. "2011 has delivered some of the price increases expected by record increases in coffee futures experienced at the start of 2011, but commercial pressures and the continued evolution of a more discerning cafe culture in Australia has kept the expected increases in the cost of take away and dine-in coff...

By   Brian Krepshaw CNET December 3, 2011 Photo Credit: Scanomat via CNET Modern living has made life easier in a number of significant ways, with plumbing and electricity topping the list. As a society we've become accustomed to things working with a press of a button or turn of a handle, but that doesn't mean basic necessities cannot be improved upon. Coffee--a well-known necessity of life--may be plentiful and readily available, but many would consider that to be just a start. Improving upon the accessibility of coffee is the  Scanomat TopBrewer. At first glance the spigot may elicit a question about why a water faucet would be mounted in that particular place--especially without a sink to go with it--but then upon further examination, the device would be revealed to be not a water faucet, but a  coffee  faucet. Finally, we can all stop acting like heathens and enjoy coffee the way it was meant to be enjoyed--like it poured forth from som...

By  Shailaja Sharma   DNA December 2, 2011 After Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts, Australia’s premium coffee company Di Bella Coffee is queuing up to enter India’s $441 million (Rs2,270 crore) cafe chain business that has established retailers like Cafe Coffee Day, Costa Coffee and Barista Lavazza. Di Bella is likely to open as many as six outlets in Mumbai by January 2012, which will be followed by expansion in Delhi and Hyderabad. Di Bella Coffee’s top officials visited Mumbai this week to narrow down on locations for stores across malls and high streets. Founded in 2002 in Brisbane, the company runs over 1,242 wholesale and retail outlets in Australia, New Zealand and China, and India will be its next aggressive international foray, Rahul Leekha, general manager - operations, Di Bella Coffee India, said. He declined to comment on investments made in India, but said the coffee chain business in India is growing by 40%. The Indian entity, Di Bella Cof...