The award, named after the visionary leader of illycaffè and the son of the company’s founder, celebrates the work that the Trieste, Italy-based company has been doing every day for the last 30 years, side-by-side with coffee farmers, to offer the best possible sustainable coffee. The award was presented to the winner by illycaffè chairman Andrea Illy during an event held at the New York Public Library in New York.

EIICA celebrates the finest Arabica coffees sourced from all over the world. This event aims to recognize growers for the quality coffee they tirelessly work to produce. The award was assigned by an independent panel of nine experts who examined the best batches from the 2022-2023 harvest through a blind tasting of nine coffees from the nine finalist countries: Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Nicaragua, and Rwanda. Prior to being evaluated by the panel, each batch of coffee was analysed by illycaffè’s quality control labs and rated in terms of richness and aromatic complexity, the elegance and balance of its flavour and intensity of its aroma.

Guatemala’s Finca Danilandia di Luis Arimany Mondonico won the Coffee Lovers’ Choice Award, assigned by a panel of consumers who, in the weeks prior to the event, carried out blind taste tests of the coffee samples in illy cafés in Trieste, Milan, Paris, London, Sao Paolo and New York and ranked their preferences.

“The absolute victory of the Brazilian coffee coming from regenerative agriculture – chosen blindly among the nine best coffees in the world – fills me with joy. Indeed, the history of the Ernesto Illy Award began in Brazil in 1991 and this confirms that the rewards received, by illycaffè for having transformed Brazil from a leader in quantity to a leader in quality are well-deserved,” said Andrea Illy. “After more than 25 years of neverending and tireless work by our team of agronomists and the University of Coffee, the leap has finally happened thanks to regenerative agriculture, which we decided to develop in 2018 for the benefits it brings to the environment and everyone’s health.”

The panel that voted for the Best of the Best award included Guatemala’s professional taster Silvia Escobar; the President of Federação dos Cafeicultores do Cerrado, Brasilian Glaucio De Castro; the director of the CoffeeLab quality laboratory, Indian Sunalini Narayan Menon; chef Ricard Camarena, who has been awarded two Michelin stars and a green star for his dedication to sustainability at his Ricard Camarena Restaurant in Valencia; American chefs Carrie and Rupert Blease, who manage the Michelin-starred Lord Stanley restaurant in San Francisco; Andrea Aprea, a Michelin-starred chef with a restaurant bearing his name in Milan; French writer and journalist Adelaide de Clermont-Tonnere, editor-in-chief of Point de Vue magazine; Inga Griese, founder and editor-in-chief of ICON, the style supplement of the German newspaper Welt Am Sonntag; Angelina Villa Clarke, a journalist contributing to prestigious English-language publications including Forbes.

Commenting on the winning coffee, the jury said, “This year’s Ernesto Illy International Coffee Award winner is a rounded, wholesome, and fully bodied cup, with rich yet mellow flavors of a balance of chocolate, caramel, brown sugar, and toasted almonds on a bed of refined brightness, with a lingering finish of mild, gentle, yet harmonious sweetness. It truly represents the finest taste characteristics of its origin.”

Martha Stewart, Matilda De Angelis, Pat Cleveland, Coco Rocha, Candela Pelizza, Tamu Mc Pherson, Carlo Sestini, Simon and Marina Ksandr, Nick Lowry, Tesa Pesic are some of the celebrities who attended the gala event at the New York Public Library, hosted by chef and TV star Marcus Samuelsson, to celebrate the best coffee producers who work behind the unique illy blend.

The Ernesto Illy International Coffee Award is also an unmissable networking opportunity for all those involved in the coffee industry, from producers to exporters, from traders to institutional representatives. In the morning they all met at the United Nations Headquarters to attend a panel discussion on protecting the future of coffee. Alongside illycaffè chairman Andrea Illy, speakers included Vanusia Nogueira, executive director, International Coffee Organization; Jeffrey Sachs, professor of economy at Columbia University and co-chair at the Regenerative Society Foundation; Oscar Schaps, president of the Latin American division of Stone X Financial Inc; and Glaucio de Castro, president of the Federação dos Cafeicultores do Cerrado Mineiro. (For a full recap of the event at the UN, see the Editor’s Blog: “The time is now” to invest in regenerative agriculture (teaandcoffee.net).

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Climate change is putting coffee-growing areas under pressure. Smallholder coffee farmers are exposed to the risk of irregular weather conditions that can affect their crops.

On the occasion of International Coffee Day, Nestlé announced that it is piloting a weather insurance programme in Indonesia for more than 800 smallholder coffee farmers that supply coffee to its brand, Nescafé. The company is launching the insurance scheme in collaboration with Blue Marble, a specialist in climate insurance. The insurance provides financial protection to help farmers cope with unpredictable weather patterns of rainfall and severe drought.

Marcelo Burity, global head of Nestlé’s green coffee development, said, “This weather insurance helps to establish a support mechanism for smallholder coffee farmers in Indonesia. It allows them to access financial resources to re-establish their crops in the event of irregular weather conditions while building resilience in coffee farms.”

The insurance uses satellite-based climate data to determine when coffee output has been impacted by either too much or not enough rainfall during key phases of the crop cycle. Payments are issued automatically to registered coffee farmers that have been affected, according to the severity of the weather.

“Smallholder coffee farmers in Indonesia are vulnerable to climate risks and need access to insurance to protect against extreme weather events,” said Jaime de Piniés, CEO of Blue Marble. “We are proud to partner with Nestlé and its brand Nescafé to develop innovative ways to support the climate adaptation of smallholder coffee farmers and their families.”

This initiative is an integral part of the Nescafé Plan 2030, the brand’s vision to support the long term sustainability of coffee and to help improve farmers’ livelihoods. Based on the results of the pilot, Nestlé will determine whether to expand the approach to other Nescafé sourcing locations around the world.

Sharing knowledge to accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture

Changing agricultural practices requires access to knowledge and time to learn and implement. By moving to regenerative agriculture, coffee farmers can help restore soil health, reverse biodiversity loss, and strengthen ecosystems. Doing so also helps reduce the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.

Nestlé, has contributed to the ‘Regenerative Agriculture for Low-Carbon and Resilient Coffee Farms – A Practical Guidebook,’ developed by the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). This guidebook provides field agronomists, trainers and professionals working with coffee farmers with a set of best practices that they can use and adapt to different farming contexts, helping farmers transition to regenerative agriculture. These best practices include agroforestry, intercropping, soil conservation and cover crops, integrated weed and pest management, integrated nutrient management, efficient water use, waste valorisation, landscape actions and the rejuvenation of coffee trees with well adapted varieties.

Pascal Chapot, global head of sustainable agriculture development at Nestlé, said, “The guidebook gives coffee farmers a set of field actions they can implement tomorrow to help them become more resilient to climate change and to diversify their sources of income. Knowledge is key, and we hope that this guidebook makes these regenerative agriculture practices more accessible to farmers and supports an accelerated transition towards them. This is essential to tackling the climate challenges ahead.”

Mirjam Pulleman, senior soil ecologist and co-author of the guidebook said, “Creating real impact on the ground requires learning from real experiences with farmers in different origins and providing incentives to support farmers in their journey. The best practices highlighted in the guidebook are a starting point. Each practice will need to be tailored to the specificities of each country of origin, the different farm types, the surrounding landscapes and the resources available.”

From Nestlé’s perspective, the guidebook complements the Nestlé Regenerative Agriculture Framework (pdf, 18Mb). Nestlé considers regenerative agriculture to be a key component of its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to reach net zero by 2050. It is also a central pillar of its coffee sustainability programmes, the Nescafé Plan 2030 and the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality programme.

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The International Coffee Organization (ICO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) play a complementary role in promoting the realisation of and the need for sustainable, responsible and inclusive workplace practices.

On this year’s International Coffee Day (ICD) – 1 October 2023 – the ICO and ILO are jointly launching the #CoffeePeople campaign and a social media challenge around the theme “promoting the right to a safe and healthy working environment in the coffee supply chain.”

A celebration of the coffee sector’s diversity, quality and dedication, International Coffee Day is an opportunity for coffee lovers to share their passion for the beverage and acknowledge and support the work of millions of coffee farmers, as well of all those women and men engaged in producing, trading, retailing, and serving coffee.

The #CoffeePeople campaign will also raise awareness of ILO’s Vision Zero Fund, a G7 and G20 initiative that brings stakeholders together to advance towards the vision of achieving zero severe and fatal work-related accidents, injuries, and diseases in global supply chains.

In recognition of International Coffee Day, the ICO and ILO are co-hosting a series of events. These initiatives will establish new resources and opportunities aimed at enhancing the working conditions for coffee sector workers, in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The campaign will seek the direct involvement of some producing and consuming countries, international organisations active in the coffee sector, coffee brands and celebrities. Join the campaign by sharing a selfie with your coffee cup and dedicating it to coffee workers.

The companies are counting on your support and enthusiasm to help spread the word about the #CoffeePeople campaign via your own platforms, and to follow the celebrations on International Coffee Day, on 1 October 2023.

Vanúsia Nogueira, executive director of the ICO, commented, “All workers deserve to enjoy decent and safe working conditions. This implies, as a minimum, rules for working hours, adequate payment of wages and effective monitoring of health and safety at work. The coffee sector, which employs millions of people around the world, can be a model of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, where all workers are treated with dignity and respect. We are working hard towards this. I am proud that today, together with the ILO, the ICO is committed to leading and modelling a better coffee workplace to meet all challenges.

Promoting respect for international labour rights and helping key stakeholders commit to upholding these rights is essential to achieve inclusive growth, strengthen the stability and sustainability of the coffee sector, and improve the quality of life for workers.”

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The revolving credit facility will pilot more-efficient dissemination of loan funds to qualifying coffee cooperatives participating in Heifer International’s Beyond Coffee II Project in Chiapas, Mexico. The investment will be facilitated through the EthicHub ReFi platform, a pioneering web-based platform serving smallholder farmers for whom traditional finance solutions have historically been less accessible and available. In Mexico, less than 6% of farmers have access to credit in the traditional finance sector.

Devised as an innovative and more-targeted way to strengthen access and timely availability of capital to smallholder coffee farmers, the investment will address shortcomings hindering access to finance, such as high transaction costs, long lead times to approval and disbursements, fixed collateral requirements and other well-known barriers to credit.

The revolving credit line is designed to provide working capital directly to coffee cooperatives during the harvest season. As only 1.5% of financial products are channeled to the rural sector, smallholders often struggle to access financing, which is often not aligned with farmers’ productive conditions. The credit facility will remain open for other purposes to secure financing and is intended to demonstrate the viability of using this financing instrument to provide more ready and efficient access to capital to pre-selected cooperatives in Chiapas.

“Smallholder farmers are the backbone of the agricultural industry in Latin America, and they face significant challenges in accessing sector-specific and efficient financial instruments,” said Jorge Barrigh, Heifer Impact Capital’s regional director for the Americas. “Our investment with the EthicHub ReFi platform enables us to address very specific challenges that for too long have represented obstacles to an efficient and streamlined capital delivery system all the way to the last mile in rural Latin America.”

The investment aims to significantly ease the availability of finance and access to targeted cooperatives at a 9.9% interest rate ceiling, competitive with the average interest rate in Mexico. In a bid to implement a more integrated solution that addresses shortcomings beyond interest rates, this solution also seeks to simplify and “open” the black box of costs and processes that often delay timing in approvals and delivery of resources.

By emphasizing the importance of a more transparent and traceable process, the initiative will directly benefit from the use of blockchain and smart contract innovations that prioritize speed, security and transparency, while also adopting an innovative approach to the risk-collateral solution, which is often among the more complicated obstacles for smallholder farmers.

Heifer Impact Capital’s investment reflects its commitment to build partnerships with country offices and programs, as well as forward leaning accelerators such as Heifer Labs that ease the leveraging and field-testing of innovative approaches — much-needed solutions to mainstreaming sustainable and bankable investments that strengthen targeted agricultural value chains in Latin America.

The Heifer-EthicHub relationship will provide game-changing field experience and insights that showcase the application of fintech solutions in mainstream finance vehicles to benefit smallholder farmers in last mile applications.

HIC and Heifer Labs are strongly committed to innovating, improving and amplifying choices in access to capital for farmer-owned businesses and agri-entrepreneurs to tangibly improve livelihoods, promote sustainable agriculture practices, and spur cascading positive impacts in these underserved rural economies.

For more information on HIC and its work in Latin America, visit their website at https://www.heifer.org/our-work/our-model/impact-investing/index.html

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Nordic Approach, founded in 2011 by Morten Wennersgaard and Andreas Hertzberg, is one of the most respected specialty coffee importers in the world. Based in Oslo, the team has created a remarkable identity and value for their customers through exceptional quality in coffee, services, information, and marketing.

In 2017, Nordic Approach spun off its sourcing department – Tropiq – to serve not only micro-roasters and small volumes of specialty coffee, but also roasters that were looking for high-quality coffee in larger volumes. With colleagues in Ethiopia and Colombia, Tropiq has a strong focus on fostering farmer relationships on the ground.

“With the acquisition of the majority of shares in Nordic Approach and Tropiq, said NKG Group CEO David M. Neumann, “we are confident that we now are in an ideal position to expand our specialty business not just in Scandinavia, but across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. At the same time, we will become better business partners for producers and sellers of the highest quality coffees and to offer a full range of green coffee and coffee-related services to the high-quality focused Scandinavian market.”

Hamburg, Germany-based NKG is a green coffee service group, that operates more than 50 companies in 26 countries.

Morten Wennersgaard and Andreas Hertzberg remain as minority shareholders and will continue leading and developing the companies as managing directors.

“Nordic Approach, Tropiq and NKG are aligned in the focus on sustainability and supporting coffee growing communities at scale. We believe that this step will open doors to new possibilities, collaborations, and resources that will benefit our team, our customers and the specialty coffee community,” said Wennersgaard and Hertzberg. “As part of the NKG network, we will continue our journey of growth while upholding the values and practices that have made us successful. We’re extremely motivated to extend our product range, increase presence in existing markets and expand our specialty coffee business worldwide, thanks to Nordic’s and NKG’s joint vision and expertise. Together, we’ll make a global impact and continue to bring amazing coffee to even more people.”

Everyone at NKG is welcoming Morten, Andreas, and their teams in Oslo, Addis Ababa and Bogotá. Wennersgaard and Hertzberg, along with other colleagues from the group, will be representing NKG at the World of Coffee in Athens, 22-24 June.

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The Coffee Clubs project is carried out together with a partner in the regions of Mbeya and Mbozi in Tanzania. Martha Kimboi coordinates the now seven coffee clubs:

“We were expecting 50 young people per school – currently there are almost 700 who take part in the coffee clubs in total. I am incredibly proud to be able to train and promote what may be the next generation of coffee farmers!” Martha Kimboi, project manager, Tanzania Coffee Clubs, commented.

Making coffee cultivation more sustainable

In Tanzania’s coffee-growing regions, it is common for children to take over their parents’ coffee farms – often due to a lack of other work alternatives. The farms are run for generations and the knowledge is passed on from generation to generation without further developing the cultivation techniques. At the same time, unsustainable coffee cultivation is not lucrative for farmers in the long run.

This is where the Coffee Club project comes in and focuses on sustainable coffee cultivation in order to secure coffee cultivation in the regions in the future. For example, the young farmers learn what natural fertilisers are available, how to best protect water and soil, and which sales channels are suitable for sustainable coffee.

The coffee yield from the school clubs has grown steadily since the beginning of the project. Now Tchibo has been able to purchase the coffee from the coffee clubs and produce the special rarity “Kahawa Skuli” for the first time. The sale of coffee means an additional source of income for the young farmers, for example for new school books.

“The young people are incredibly proud to be part of the project. They’d love to start right away and plant as many trees as they can, as they now see how they’re making a profit by harvesting their own coffee,” said Martha Kimboi.

The rarity “Kahawa Skuli” tastes like blackberry and dark chocolate and will be available at a price of €9.99 per 500 g whole bean.

For more informaiton, visit: tchibo.com.

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Across the three days, attendees gained hands-on practical skills and coffee knowledge during over 27 workshops and 64 lectures. 280 individuals participated in the Green Coffee Buyers and Sellers Program looking to begin long-term relationships.

The 2023 Best New Product Competition recognised six new products at the Expo in six different categories, judged on their quality and value to the specialty coffee and tea industry. The SCA awarded the following product and companies during the event:

• Coffee Accessories – Ion Beam by Acaia
• Commercial Coffee Preparation and Serving – Latte Art Factory Bar Pro by Latte Art Factory
• Consumer Coffee Preparation and Serving – The Barista Touch Impress by Breville
• Open Class – Redefined by Rarebird, Inc
• Specialty Coffee Beverage Additive – Puremade Toasted Black Sesame Syrup by Torani
• Specialty Non-Coffee Beverage Standalone – Ginger Spice Chai Concentrate by Art of Tea

The Coffee Design Awards, also awarded at Expo, recognised three companies for their ingenuity, style, and character in three categories:

• Branding – Dear Francis
• Packaging – Stereoscope
• Spaces – The Boy & The Bear

2023 US Coffee Championships
The 2023 US Coffee Championships featured six competitions across three days. The six new US Coffee Champions will represent the United States in the World Coffee Championships taking place in Athens, Greece and Taipei, Taiwan later this year:

• US Barista Champion: Isaiah Sheese, Archetype Coffee
• US Brewers Cup Champion: Wenbo Yang, Artly Coffee
• US Coffee in Good Spirits Champion: Sam Schroeder, Olympia Coffee
• US Cup Tasters Champion: Jake Donaghy, Olympia Coffee Roasting
• US Roasting Champion: Andrew Coe, Elevator Coffee
• US Latte Art Champion: Piyapat Lapteerawut, Coffee Project NY

The Specialty Coffee Expo will head to Chicago Illinois in 2024, taking place 12-14 April at McCormick Place. The SCA announced that 54% of the show floor for the 2024 Expo has already sold out.

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Hospitality businesses of all shapes and sizes fundraise by donating from every cup or bag of coffee sold, or by running events and activities in store.

A host of activities will be taking place across the country, including Latte Art Throwdowns, raffle competitions with great prizes, espresso martini parties, and more. Coffee enthusiasts can find out where the closest coffee shop is that will be taking part by visiting the UK Coffee Week map and What’s On page.

The UK Coffee Week bus will also be back for an interactive pop-up at Boxpark Shoreditch on the 13th and 14th of October. The bus will be serving up free plant powered coffee from Alpro and Caravan Coffee Roasters.

Since 2011, the UK Coffee Week community has raised over £800,000 for Project Waterfall, reaching over 45,000 people with clean drinking water, sanitation and education.

The funds raised during UK Coffee Week 2022 will go to Project Waterfall’s new initiative in the Berbere district of Ethiopia. 40,000 people will have access to clean water and sanitation when this three-year project is completed.

“UK Coffee Week is about celebrating the coffee industry as well as supporting coffee-growing communities. The campaign is an opportunity for us to all come together and make a real impact on the communities that grow our coffee by providing them with a sustainable source of clean drinking water and sanitation,” said Rebecca Hodgson, director of Project Waterfall and UK Coffee Week. “As Project Waterfall’s flagship fundraising campaign, UK Coffee Week gives every coffee shop the power to make a difference no matter their size, while engaging their team and having fun!”

More than 770 million people around the world do not have access to clean water. The majority live in isolated, rural areas – the same areas growing our coffee. Project Waterfall was established by Jeffrey Young in 2011 to unite the coffee industry and coffee consumers to give back to the communities growing our coffee, by investing in sustainable clean water, sanitation and hygiene projects.

Headline sponsor Alpro, and category sponsors Fulfil and Green Rock Manufacturing, are excited to support the campaign. Graham Kelly, head of coffee at Alpro, said, “As a long-standing supporter of UK Coffee Week, we are excited to be taking this a step further by becoming headline sponsor in 2022. Project Waterfall is an excellent initiative, and we are proud that we are playing a bigger role this year in driving even more donations.”

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Green Coffee Price
The ICO Composite Indicator Price (I-CIP) lost 0.2% from August to September 2022, averaging 199.63 US cents/lb for the latter, whilst posting a median value of 198.43 US cents/lb. In September 2022, the I-CIP fluctuated in between 193.28 and 206.37 US cents/lb.

Average prices for all groups indicators decreased in September 2022, except for the Robustas, which had an uptick of 1.6% from August to September 2022. The Robustas averaged 111.36 US cents/lb for the month of September. The Colombian Milds and Other Milds, decreased by 0.5% and 0.3% respectively, month-on-month in September. The former averaged 294.09 US cents/lb in September 2022, whilst the latter averaged 267.49 US cents/lb. The upturns are in part due to the average 2nd and 3rd positions of the ICE New York futures market, which lost 0.1% in September 2022 over August 2022. The average of the 2nd and 3rd positions of the ICE (International Coffee Exchange) Futures Europe for the Robustas grew by 1.8%.

The Brazilian Naturals-Robusta differential took the hardest hit from August to September 2022, retracting 3.6% from 112.26 to 108.23 US cents/lb as growth of the Robustas outpaced the Brazilian Naturals. The Colombian Milds-Other Milds differential sustained a 2.3% loss for the aforementioned period, whilst the Colombian Milds-Robustas differential shrank by 1.8%. The Colombian Milds-Brazilian Naturals differential grew by 1% to 74.50 US cents/lb in September 2022. The strongest growth among all the differentials was observed for the Other Milds-Brazilian Naturals differential, gaining 3.0%, ranging 46.52 to 47.90 US cents/lb for their respective monthly averages. Lastly, the Other Milds-Robustas differential lost 1.7% from August to September 2022. The average of the monthly differential stood at 156.13 US cents/lb, down from 158.78 in August 2022.

The arbitrage between the New York and London Futures markets shrunk by 1.7%, falling to 117.74 US Cents/lb in September 2022 from 119.79 US cents/lb in August 2022.

Intra-day volatility of the I-CIP decreased 2.0 percentage points between August and September 2022, reaching a low of 8.3%. Robustas and the London futures market presented the lowest volatility amongst all group indicators, at 7.3% and 7.0% in September 2022. The Brazilian Naturals volatility, was the highest amongst the group indicators, averaging 10.9%, a 2.4 percentage point decrease from the previous month. The variation in volatility of the Colombian Milds and Other Milds for August to September 2022 is -2.0 to 8.0% and -2.8 to 8.6%, respectively. The New York futures market remained the most volatile, albeit posting a decrease of 3.4 percentage points, averaging 11.2% for the month of September 2022.

The New York certified stocks decreased 37.2% from the previous month, closing in at 0.45 million bags, whilst certified stocks of Robusta coffee reached 1.59 million bags, representing a decrease of 0.8%.

Export by Coffee Groups
Global exports of green beans in August 2022 totalled 8.83 million bags, compared with 9.17 million bags in the same month of the previous year, down 3.7%. The downturn was spread across all groups of coffee, with the exception of the Brazilian Naturals, which saw a 7.1% increase in August 2022 as compared with the same month a year ago. The second consecutive month of negative growth has pushed the cumulative total exports of green beans for the first 11 months of coffee year 2021/22 further into red, down 1.0% as compared to 0.7% decrease for the first 10 months of the current coffee year. The cumulative total for 2021/22 to August is 107.05 million bags as compared with 108.13 million bags over the same period a year ago.

Exports of the Colombian Milds decreased by 23.0% to 0.86 million bags in August 2022 from 1.12 million bags in August 2021, driven primarily by Colombia, the main origin of this group of coffee, whose exports of green beans were down 25.6% in August 2022. As a result of the relatively sharp downturn, exports of the Colombian Milds in October 2021–August 2022 were down by 5.7% at 11.32 million bags, as compared with 12.0 million bags in the first 11 months of coffee year 2020/21. Colombia exported 0.79 million bags of green beans in August 2022, the lowest August exports since 0.54 million bags were shipped in 2012.

The Brazilian Naturals bounced back in August with a 7.1% increase, following a 4.6% fall in July 2022, exporting 2.85 million bags as compared with 2.66 million bags in August 2021. The upturn was driven by Brazil, the biggest producer and exporter of the Brazilian Naturals, with its total green bean exports increasing by 4.6% in August 2022 to 2.44 million bags. However, the cumulative total exports of the Brazilian Naturals for coffee year 2021/22 to August 2022 is down 5.8% at 34.52 million bags, as compared with 36.66 million bags.

Shipments of the Other Milds decreased by 3.7% in August 2022 to 1.94 million bags from 2.01 million bags in the same period last year. This is the fifth consecutive months of fall. As a result, the cumulative volume of exports continued to increase but at a declining rate, falling to 1.3% in the first 11 months of coffee year 2021/22 (22.09 million bags vs 21.08 million bags) from 2.7% in the first 10 months of the same coffee year. Guatemala and Honduras were the two main origins responsible for the latest fall in exports of the Other Milds, with their exports of green beans plunging by 27.7% and 41.3%, respectively.

In Honduras, the coffee industry is struggling with leaf-rust, or roya, which has hit the industry’s harvests, with the country’s coffee association lowering the exports outlook for coffee year 2021/22, twice already, from 5.823 million bags to 4.61 million bags. Guatemala is also dealing with impact of a lower production, due mainly to climatic reasons and availability of labour, that is having a knock-on effect on the country’s exports.

Exports of the Robustas totalled 3.17 million bags in August 2022, as compared with 3.38 million bags in August 2021, down 6.0%. Exports of green beans for the first 11 months of the current and previous coffee years for the Robustas were 42.57 million bags and 41.22 million bags, respectively, up 3.8%. Ethiopia and India are the two main origins behind the latest downturn, suffering from 16.0% and 13.1% decreases, respectively, in August 2022, with their total green bean exports at 0.43 million bags and 0.37 million bags, respectively. India, especially, has had a good year so far, with the total exports of green beans for the first 11 months of coffee year 2021/22 increasing by 31.1% to 4.62 million bags as compared to 3.53 million bags, an increase of 1.1 million bags. As a result, the production/export ratio is falling sharply, down from 1.48 in coffee year 2020/21 to 1.12 in coffee year 2021/22. The ratio is a good indication of supply availability. Therefore, it is possible that the sharp fall in India’s August 2022 exports is a reflection of the supply availability towards the end of a stellar year.

Total exports of soluble coffee increased by 13.2% in August 2022 to 0.98 million bags from 0.87 million bags in August 2021. In the first 11 months of coffee year 2021/22, a total of 11.06 million bags of soluble coffee were exported, representing an increase of 6.3% from the 10.4 million bags exported in the same period during the previous coffee year. The share of soluble coffee of the total exports of all forms of coffee was 9.3% (measured on a moving 12- month average) in August 2022. Brazil is the largest exporter of soluble coffee, shipping 3.58 million bags in the first 11 months of coffee year 2021/22, followed by India with 2.0 million bags, with Indonesia in third place at 1.53 million bags exported over the same period.

Exports of roasted beans increased by 59.9% in August 2022 to 89,548 bags from 55,995 bags in August 2021. The cumulative total for coffee year 2021/22 to August 2022 was 0.75 million bags, as compared with 0.72 million bags in same period a year ago.

Regional Outlook
In October 2021 to August 2022, South America’s exports of all forms of coffee decreased by 23.3% to 50.46 million bags. Brazil and Colombia are the reasons for this large drop in exports. During this period, shipments from Brazil declined by 27.2% to 34.74 million bags from 47.4 million bags in October-August 2020/21. The volume of exports from Colombia is down 18.7% in the first 11 months of coffee year 2021/22 at 11.17 million bags, from 13.74 million bags in the same period a year ago. A smaller crop harvested during its Arabica ‘off-season’, along with problems with containers and shipping, mainly noted during the middle of the current coffee year, explains the large drop in exports of all forms of coffee in Brazil, while the fall in the exports of Colombia is linked to persistent unfavourable weather conditions reducing the available supply of coffee in the country. Nevertheless, Peru is enjoying a good year, with exports of all forms of coffee expanding by 6.1% in the first 11 months of coffee year 2021/22 to 4.05 million bags from 3.82 million bags in the same period a year ago.

Exports of all forms of coffee from Asia & Oceania increased by 2.7% to 3.25 million bags in August 2022 but were down 1.5% to 40.86 million bags in the first 11 months of coffee year 2021/22. Indonesia was the origin behind the uptick for August, with its exports growing by 20.1% to 0.65 million bags from 0.54 million bags in August 2021. However, the country is also the main reason behind the negative cumulative growth of the region for the season so far: exports of all forms of coffee are down 17.8% to 6.24 million bags in the first 11 months of coffee year 2021/22 as compared with 7.59 million bags in the same period a year ago. Vietnam, the region’s biggest producer and export, made a margin gain in August, with the origin’s exports increasing by 0.1% to 1.89 million bags, bringing the year’s total (October 2021 to August 2022) to 26.6 million bags, up 1.8% year-on-year. India’s shipments were down 6.0% in August 2022 to 0.57 million bags, however the total for the first 11 months remains up at 8.5%, 6.64 million bags versus 6.12 million bags in the first 11 months of coffee year 2021/22.

Exports of all forms of coffee from Africa decreased by 11.9% to 1.24 million bags in August 2022 from 1.4 million bags in August 2021. For the first 11 months of the current coffee year, exports totalled 12.48 million bags as compared with 15.44 million bags in coffee year 2020/21. Uganda is the main source of the downturn for the region in August, with its exports falling by 28.5% to 0.5 million bags as compared to 0.7 million bags in August 2021. The cumulative total for coffee year 2021/22 to August 2022 is also down, decreasing by 23.0% to 5.35 million bags from 6.94 million bags in the same period a year ago. The decrease in exports was mainly due to the impact of drought in most of the coffee growing regions, which led to a lower and shorter main harvest season in central and eastern parts of Uganda, and hence lower output.

In August 2022, exports of all forms of coffee from Mexico & Central America were down 7.4% to 1.19 million bags as compared with 1.29 million in August 2021. For the first 11 months of the current coffee year, exports are down 13.0%, totalling 15.07 million bags as compared with 17.34 million bags in October–August 2020/21. The region’s sharp downturn in August was due Guatemala and Honduras, down 27.8% and 41.3%, respectively. For the first 11 months of coffee year 2021/22, the total exports are 3.16 million bags and 4.53 million bags, for the two origins, respectively, down 15.6% and 24.0%. The reason for the poor performance of the two origins has already been explained in the “Exports by Coffee Groups” section above.

Production and Consumption
The provisional outlook for total production in coffee year 2021/22 remains unchanged at 167.2 million bags, a 2.1% decrease as compared to 170.83 million bags in the previous coffee year. World coffee consumption is projected to grow by 3.3% to 170.3 million 60-kg bags in 2021/22 as compared to 164.9 million for coffee year 2020/21. In 2021/22, consumption is expected to exceed production by 3.1 million bags.

For the full report, visit: ico.org.

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To fuel its sustainability goals, Dunkin’ has partnered with like-minded organisations. Together they’re working to support the regions where Dunkin’s coffee grows and make a difference in the lives and livelihoods of coffee farmers and producers.

The Dunkin’ Drive-To Sustainability Program is comprised of three pillars: verification, partnerships, and improvement. As part of the first pillar, we are partnering with Enveritas, a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded to overcome systemic barriers that prevent the application of proven solutions for ending poverty among smallholder coffee growers.

By leveraging its Coffee Policy and third-party verification with Enveritas, Dunkin’ aims to improve standards with US roasters and international licensees, audit its US coffee supply chain to ensure policy compliance, and track key performance indicators toward continuous improvement efforts.

Some of Dunkin’s efforts under its pillars of Partnerships and Improvement include:
• Supported the planting of 450,000 trees in coffee growing regions of Honduras and Guatemala in 2021 with a donation to One Tree Planted, a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to helping the environment by planting trees in countries around the world.
• Trained farmers and farmworkers in Honduras through its Farmworker Training Project alongside the Louis Dreyfus Company. This project enhanced Dunkin’s suppliers’ abilities to make improvements on sustainability issues.
• Boosting coffee sustainability through agricultural science as a leading sponsor of the nonprofit World Coffee Research (WCR). A percentage of sales from every pound of Original Blend coffee beans sold to Dunkin’ franchisees for use in Dunkin’ restaurants go to WCR.
• Since 2018, Dunkin’ has been a part of The Sustainable Coffee Challenge, a collaborative effort led by Conservation International to make coffee the world’s first sustainable agricultural product.
• To empower women in coffee, Dunkin’ has supported providing coffee suppliers in Guatemala and Colombia with access to Equal Origins’ Virtual Learning Journey.
• Over the next three years, alongside global agri-business company Olam Food Ingredients (OFI), Dunkin’ will help 350 coffee-farming families in Santa Barbara and Comayagua, Honduras become more economically sustainable and better environmental stewards through trainings and improved crop yields.

To learn more, visit impact.inspirebrands.com.

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The new publication provides insights on the sustainable coffee purchases of JDE Peet’s, Melitta Group, Keurig Dr Pepper, Nestlé, Strauss Coffee, SUPRACAFÉ, Tesco and Westrock Coffee, all of whom have committed to disclosing their responsible sourcing progress using aligned, comparable metrics. According to GCP, the eight leading coffee companies have taken exemplary public action by transparently sharing their sustainable coffee purchase volumes in the new report, published on Tuesday.

“Over the past four years, innovative Collective Reporting of Sustainable Coffee Purchases from prominent coffee companies in GCP’s Snapshot has provided transparent information showing the sector how increases of sustainable coffee purchases are expanding the global marketplace for sustainable coffees,” said GCP executive director, Annette Pensel. “As regulatory, financial and reporting environments continue to evolve, GCP Snapshot partners are providing substantial leadership, actions, and impact to foster increased production and consumption of sustainable coffees throughout the world.”

This year’s report is the result of GCP’s expanding collective reporting efforts, which has included new participating GCP Members, new reporting features, and an expansion of sustainability schemes eligible for reporting by using the GCP Baseline Coffee Code as a reference. The following GCP-recognised sustainability schemes have been included for reporting on 2021 volumes:

•3rd Party Schemes: 4C, Certifica Minas, Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance/UTZ, and Starbucks’ C.A.F.E. Practices;
•2nd Party Schemes: Ecom’s SMS, Enveritas Gold, Enveritas Green, Nespresso AAA, ofi’s AtSource Entry Verified and AtSource Plus, LIFT by Mercon, and Neumann’s NKG Bloom.

Highlights of the GCP Snapshot include data on the increasing share of sustainable coffee purchases as reported by GCP Members for 2021, climbing up to 1,254,141 MT (55% of total received green coffee – a relative increase of 29% compared to 2020). The report also presents the breakdown of purchases per participating company, as well as a feature on companies’ sustainable coffee purchases according to sourcing regions. Moreover, it offers insights into origin diversity (sustainable coffee purchases received from 33 coffee-producing countries), and the shares of sustainable coffee purchased according to different GCP-recognised sustainability schemes.

“While important work is underway, even bolder individual and collaborative efforts are needed to achieve transformational change that results in economic viability of sustainable coffee farming and a living income for producers and workers while preserving nature and addressing climate change, effectively,” said Pensel. “We’re excited by the progress made and look forward to welcoming more roasters and retailers reporting in the next GCP Snapshot.”

The full report is available to read here.

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The new Minister for Coffee is Joe Kuli, from Anglimp-South Waghi, in the central highlands region of Papa New Guinea. Kuli is the first ever person to hold the title of Minister for Coffee, not just in PNG, but across the world.

Kuli himself comes from the Waghi Valley, Jiwaka. The Waghi Valley used to be a huge coffee plantation, but which was abandoned and is now completely covered in bush.

Prime Minister Marape, on announcing Kuli’s new position, said, “Minister Kuli’s focus will be coffee, coffee and coffee. I want to drink coffee made in Goroka, Mt Hagen, Lae and other parts of the country. I want to see more coffee grown for export to the lucrative markets of the world.”

Coffee is the country’s second largest export, after palm oil, responsible for around 6% of the country’s GDP. Approximately a quarter of the population work on coffee plantations or run their own small coffee farms.

It’s also widely reported that, due to coffee’s value in an extremely poor country, there are regular instances of shipment hijackings, which can cause both large and small growers to lose up to half of their stock grown for export.

Over the last ten years, PNG’s commitment to exporting coffee has continued to expand, with government policies around soil quality, improved infrastructure and the education of farms all helping to make a real impact on the value and quality of Papa New Guinean coffee beans. Today, New Guinean beans can be found in everything from artisanal coffee shops to Nespresso Pods.

Papa New Guinea’s new minister for coffee is being welcomed by the country’s coffee growers and producers, in addition to international coffee providers. In recent years, Papa New Guinea’s coffee production has gone through turbulent changes, with some larger plantations being abandoned. Instead, more and more of the country’s coffee beans have been coming from smaller, independent farms which are struggling to meet an ever-growing demand.

“In our opinion,” said Rob Hodge, a director at United Kingdom-based Rave Coffee, “the announcement is great news for anyone who enjoys high-quality coffee. Papa New Guinea’s climate is perfect for growing famously well-rounded and smooth coffee beans, which can be made into absolutely stunning coffees. Today, Papa New Guinea coffee is already enjoyed around the world, and we’re extremely excited to see the country commit to increasing production, focusing on quality and helping to spread its incredible coffee flavours across the world.”

Papa New Guinea’s coffee beans are extremely popular in the United States, Australia, the UK and elsewhere in the world. They can be found in a wide range of products, from coffee subscriptions to simple flat whites you might enjoy in artisan coffee shops.

Hodge added that Papa New Guinea’s coffee industry is a great mixture of smaller farms and larger plantations. “While the larger plantations create great-tasting, simple coffees, the smaller producers typically create coffee beans with a more wild, temperamental flavour,” he said. “At Rave, we’ve been pushing PNG coffee beans for the last decade, and we’re extremely excited to introduce more beans originating from Papa New Guinea in our products.”

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Going forward, the private sector and civil society will participate as Affiliate Members in key discussions and decisions on the sustainable future of global coffee affairs with 75 coffee producing and importing nations, ICO Member Governments. The goal of the 2022 International Coffee Agreement (ICA) is to find new ways to improve conditions in an over USD $300 billion a year industry that provides a livelihood for millions of people from farmers to baristas across the world. Indeed, coffee farmers have suffered much in the wake of a 2019 coffee pricing crisis, extreme weather including droughts, flooding, frosts and blight, resulting in crop losses and prompting many to quit a business that had been in their family for generations. Smallholders, who only have less than one or two hectares of land each to produce coffee, for example, are the most vulnerable with incomes of just USD $500 a year.

The chair of the International Coffee Council (ICC), H.E. Ambassador Iván Romero-Martínez of Honduras, stressed that with the approval of the new ICA, the ICC marked a new era for the ICO, its members, the global coffee sector and for millions of coffee farmers whose work, every day, allow us to taste a wonderful coffee. He further pointed out that ICO members showed the world that the coffee sector is strong and united as ICO reaffirms itself as the centre of the ‘coffee diplomacy’, committed to making the coffee value chain more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient.

“We are entering a new era of cooperation with the private sector thanks to the landmark International Coffee Agreement 2022,” said Vanusia Nogueira, who joined in May as the ICO’s first female executive director. “The arrival of the world’s biggest high-street names and manufacturers as well as smallholders means that the whole coffee value chain can now address the biggest challenges facing the global sector in a way that is fair for all,” she added.

The new ICA goes beyond the traditional divide between exporting and importing members as all members are committed to working together to address the increasing challenges of the coffee industry. The private sector and government entities will coordinate strategies to address more efficiently those challenges. This will benefit producers across 50 countries as coffee growers and their associations will be able to raise their concerns directly with retailers and manufacturers.

Moreover, the new ICA gives a clear and firm mandate to the ICO Secretariat to assist members in putting together coffee sector development projects and mobilising resources in areas such as pest and disease control, climate change adaptation among other mitigating strategies. This comes at a time when expanding demand for coffee will contribute to maintaining a balance between supply and demand, supporting fair market prices.

“The industry has changed dramatically in the last 30 years in terms of governance and value distribution between producing and consumer nations. We can now come together and put a bigger emphasis on the development of the global circular coffee economy. Ultimately, we want to create a brighter future for millions of coffee farmers by adhering to the United Nations’ Sustainability Development Goals and work for more transparency, quality and fair pricing for billions of consumers. The new agreement is a huge step in this direction,” said Nogueira.

The new ICA represents a fresh mandate for the ICO. It is the seventh of its kind since 1962 after the first International Coffee Agreement at the United Nations in New York defined coffee export quotas. The 2022 ICA has come a long way since then, now that the ICO can bring all parties to the table for the first time and tackle challenges through international private and public cooperation, involving its member governments, which represent 93% of world coffee production and 63% of world consumption. Today, the world drinks more than two billion cups of coffee a day.

“The new agreement is an effective instrument to paving the way to a more unified front, establishing a consensus and shared vision on how to best implement and promote actions by governments and the private sector, while also engaging all key coffee-related institutions, NGOs, international and financial institutions plus other development partners, research bodies and academia,” said Nogueira, who previously represented Brazil, the world’s biggest coffee producer, in global coffee affairs as the executive director of the Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association.

While the ICO will not change its intergovernmental nature, as part of the Agreement, the current Coffee Public-Private Task Force has been integrated into the ICO as the Coffee Public-Private Working Party. On top of this, the Private Sector Consultative Board will be transformed into the Board of Affiliate Members, creating a new institutional framework and leading to the non-government affiliation since 1963 when the ICO was established in London.

The ICA’s key points also redefine the ICO’s internal voting system and members’ contributions to better reflect the transformation in the global coffee chain over the last 30 years, accounting for distortions between producing (exporting) and consumer (importing) countries as well as Arabica versus Robusta coffee-producing nations. The change in membership contributions to the administrative budget will increase the financial sustainability of the Organization and its capacity to carry out its mandate.

In terms of production, the world produces 4.18 million tonnes of Robusta coffee, or 69.67 million 60-kg bags a year, and 6.07 million tonnes of Arabica, or 101.16 million 60-kg bags, annually as of 2020. This is up from 1.74 million tonnes of Robusta and 4.34 million tonnes for Arabica coffee in 1991.

For more information, visit: ico.org.

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“Building on our trusted relationship, we are excited to broaden the partnership between IDH and ACOM, with this credit facility to smallholder coffee farmers,” says Roel Messie, chief executive officer of IDH Farmfit Fund. “The programme will provide farmers with access to finance, while diversifying their sources of income and becoming more climate resilient. It’s a great example of synergy and impact — exactly what the IDH Farmfit Fund is designed for.”

Backed by IDH Farmfit Fund’s loan, the benefits of ACOM’s input financing programme are extensive — allowing participating smallholders to increase farm productivity, yield and income, while reducing production costs. The farmers will be supported across all areas of their businesses including agronomist advice and greater access to high-quality fertilizer and seedlings, with which they can increase crop output while diversifying sources of income and improving climate resilience. The credit facility is accompanied by an innovative risk sharing structure, plus an environmental and social action plan, based on the IFC Performance Standards.

“Both IDH and ACOM share the ambition to close living income gaps and strengthen smallholder livelihoods by enhancing their economic activities in a sustainable way,” says Jordy van Honk, global director of Agriculture Commodities at IDH Farmfit Fund. “Leveraging our partnership of the last four years, it is exciting to see this work being scaled through such an impactful transaction that has the potential to improve the livelihoods of thousands of smallholder farmers.”

“Together with IDH Farmfit Fund, ACOM and SMS are honoured to enter the next phase of collaboration,” says Angus Dunbar, Vietnam country manager at ACOM. “The program will significantly help farming households, middlemen and cooperatives cope with a challenging environment, particularly as input prices have been heavily impacted by Covid-19 and war crises.”

Programme History

Between 2015 and 2018, ACOM completed a Service Delivery Model (SDM)analysis on approximately 1,500 farmers, to gain insight into their households and farm profiles, their farm management practices, their production methods, and their environmental performances. The SDM was completed in collaboration with IDH’s Coffee Program and Vietnam team, and Jacobs Douwe Egberts (now JDE Peet’s).

“Through our Common Grounds program and as an investor in the IDH Farmfit Fund, we are proud to partner with IDH and ACOM to promote sustainable coffee programs in Vietnam,” says Do Ngoc Sy, sustainability manager of JDE Peet’s in Asia and the Pacific. “This partnership will help us to deliver on our commitment towards 100% responsibly sourced coffee by 2025, and support the livelihoods of smallholder coffee farmers.”

The SDM results showed that farmers can improve their income and livelihoods by improving their production practices, reducing production costs, and increasing resilience through climate adaptation practices. Based on the SDM’s results, the adoption of these practices contributed to a net profitability increase of 40% (in 2018 vs SDM baseline in 2015) for the participating farmers.

Input Financing Pilot

As a direct outcome of the SDM, ACOM financed SMS to implement an input financing pilot with 300 coffee farmers. The pilot showed promising results as farmers reduced input costs by over 10%, reduced financing costs by 8%, and reduced loan book losses to less than 2%[1].

Funding Risks & Reluctance

Around the world, an estimated 270 million smallholder farmers live in poverty because they lack the financial means to invest in their farms to make them more profitable. They also produce an estimated 70 to 80% of the world’s food supply. Financial institutions are often reluctant to invest in these smallholder farms due to stigmas and perceived high risks, which drive up interest rates and make loans unaffordable for majority of farmers. To counter this, the IDH Farmfit Fund’s innovative financing model makes investments in smallholder farmers more attractive, as the Fund takes on the high-risk positions in farmer-related transactions to reduce the risk currently born by borrowers and lenders. In doing so, the Fund catalyses commercial capital to coinvest in this sector.

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Although coffee benchmark prices on the global market have surpassed a 10-year high, most coffee farmers and their families continue to live well below recognised living income standards. For example, a 2019 report (PDF) found that 80% of Colombian farmers earn less than a living income, with 73% living below the poverty line^[1] despite well-organised support for the coffee sector by the Colombian government. If conditions are not optimised, even high prices can be insufficient for achieving a living or prosperous income. Achieving a living income hinges on market prices and specific conditions at the farm level, such as production costs, land size, and yield requirements.

“Steep rises in price are often an anomaly with farmers holding the bill afterward. When adjusted for inflation, the market price for green coffee has declined over the last twenty years even as costs of production continue to rise” said José Sette, ICO executive director. “This wide-ranging partnership will increase movement towards living incomes affording farmers decent livelihoods and the ability to deal with volatile markets.”

ICO and IDH say they are uniquely positioned to jointly address the challenge through their complementary capacities and experiences. Created in 1963, the ICO is an intergovernmental organisation, that brings together exporting and importing governments and implements the International Coffee Agreement (2007) with the objective of strengthening the global coffee sector and promoting its sustainable economic, social, and environmental development. IDH leverages public-private partnerships to drive systems change in global trade by innovating and investing in pre-competitive solutions with the private sector.

Together, ICO and IDH are uniting forces, expertise, and networks to work towards a prosperous coffee sector for coffee farmers. This partnership builds on commitments from ICO’s Coffee Public Private Task Force (CPPTF), which was created in 2018 to establish a dialogue on coffee price levels among key public and private stakeholders in the coffee sector. IDH will team up with the Task Force and its companies, governments, and international supporting organisations, and draw on its active community of stakeholders working to close living income gaps across a variety of commodity sectors, such as coffee and cocoa.

IDH’s Living Income Roadmap provides companies with five steps to help them take ambitious actions to close living income gaps. The organisation is currently designing a multistakeholder framework that goes beyond private sector actions to create clarity on the roles of governments, investors, farmers, and other stakeholders.

“Public-private collaborations, like this partnership, are the key to distributing value more equitably in an inequitable value chain. Companies need to step up and challenge their assumed roles, and governments must act as critical enablers of rural development,” said Jordy van Honk, global director of Agricultural Commodities at IDH.

The partnership will focus on four concrete areas of collaboration:

(a) Support the ongoing work of the ICO’s CPPTF with both financial and human resources, and leverage work that IDH is doing in the field.

(b) Co-facilitate and plan the 4th CEO and Global Coffee Leaders Forum (using living and prosperous income and value distribution as a framework).

(c) Start defining prosperous income as part of the work under ICO’s CPPTF and build on IDH and the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation’s (FNC) work on Living Income and Prosperity and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

(d) Work closely with ICO representatives to normalise key concepts around living income, value distribution, risk distribution, and policy alignment.

[1] www.idhsustainabletrade.com/publication/task-force-for-coffee-living-income-report-summary

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Commenting on the partnership, Leigh Anne Vaughan, global strategic marketing director, Taste at Kerry, said: “With this partnership, our customers anywhere in the world can now access and support the distinctive taste of the premium fair-trade coffee produced using high-quality, organic-certified coffee beans from women growers in Sumatra and Peru. Consumers can also be assured that the women responsible for the production of the coffee beans have been compensated directly for their work, and also provided the opportunity and resources to enact positive change in their home communities and on their own terms. Through this partnership, Kerry will be the only company worldwide creating coffee extracts from the beans of Café Femenino growers. Kerry is delighted to partner with the Café Femenino community program.”

Sabina Cecanop, founding president of Café Femenino Peru, said: “We have used the money we’ve received from the Café Femenino premium to invest in improving our homes, providing education for our daughters, and improving the food we feed our families. Café Femenino has been wonderful in improving the self-esteem and empowerment of women in the community.”

As part of Café Femenino’s efforts, local programs help their women farmer members receive payments and payment premiums directly, and assume leadership roles, e.g., in co-op voting and on boards. The members also secure rights to the land they farm to produce Fair Trade Certified and organic-certified coffees. This partnership further strengthens Kerry’s “Beyond the Horizon” sustainability program and showcases the company’s continued commitment to improving the livelihoods of suppliers and their communities.

Since 2003, the Café Femenino coffee program has been an ethical sourcing model committed to ending the cycle of poverty affecting women coffee farmers around the world. For more information, visit; www.cafefemenino.com. 

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The report finds that the pandemic has not reduced the importance of sustainability — quite the contrary, in fact. Approximately 80% of consumers surveyed indicated that sustainability is important to some degree with over half indicating it is extremely or very important. Furthermore, the only issues that appear to be more important to respondents than sustainability are hygiene and safety related (mask wearing, sanitising, etc.).

Several presentations in last month’s Re:co Symposium (12-13 May) highlighted that consumers, particularly younger demographics, are demanding that companies be more socially and environmentally responsible. The new report delves further revealing that sustainability is increasingly enveloping societal issues such as diversity and welfare issues for both animals and workers. Consumers are generally more concerned now about sustainability, driven by the impact of the pandemic on food workers, climate change overall, and the increased use of single-use disposables.

According to the report, consumers believe it is in a company’s best interest to not make false claims. Consumer demand is strong enough for many products that it behooves a company to create products and services that meet these sustainability demands. Overall, consumers are more likely to trust smaller operators – farmers, manufacturers, restaurants – than larger organisations. Interestingly, per the findings, the media is now the least trusted player in the food system.

Consumers are placing a greater emphasis on specific claims rather than vague, broad claims. Claims reducing the impact of ingredients and specific efforts against animal welfare have the broadest impact.

And while there may be some distrust with larger food organisations, the report states that consumers see manufacturers and restaurants as doing a better job and having a more positive impact on sustainability than before the pandemic. For restaurants, sourcing locally, sourcing sustainable ingredients, providing condiments by request and more efficient to-go packaging are helping to support this positive perception.

Good news for coffee and tea farmers – and farmers overall – the report discovered that consumers across all demographics are more concerned now about farmer’s ability to make a living. The pandemic did shift consumers’ concern over farmer and farm worker safety with over half now more concerned about that versus a year ago, but the more significant shift was in the concern over whether farmers can make a living. See the below graphs from the report in more detail.

Whether ordering directly from a farmer or a manufacturer, consumers generally see it as a more sustainable activity than shopping at retail. Gen Z, Millennials and those placing an emphasis on sustainability are all significantly more likely to pay more. This may help support ongoing sustainability efforts in agriculture, manufacturing, restaurants and the food industry.

So, as consumers increasingly tie sustainability to include economic factors such as fairness in pay and conditions for workers, the report ascertains that companies honestly and actively focusing on these issues may be able to better support price premiums their products may require.

• Vanessa L Facenda, editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: vanessa@bellpublishing.com
  Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

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