Seeking protection from the historical ups and downs in the price of coffee, there are several producers who are trying to transform the drink into an exclusive product, as with fine wines. They want to establish a premium brand and market it directly to roasters worldwide.
Such is the case of the "geisha" grains in Panama, marketed for its jasmine flavour, which reached a record price of $170 a pound in an auction online.
This trend is called "direct trade" and competes directly with other modes of marketing the grain, such as certification of organic produce.
The Costa Rican Coffee Institute said that there is a boom in the country of "micro mills", designed to process coffee beans for individual farms. In this way, producers gain a better quality control, a task made difficult in cooperatives and large mills where beans from several farms are mixed.
An article in Laprensagrafica.com notes: "Buyers of specialty grains such as Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, based in the United States, who buy coffee in Latin America, East Africa and Indonesia, say their customers want to source their coffee grain to a single farm, and are distancing themselves from the cooperatives.
"You need to ensure that the land is well managed, because you can have a good harvest this year, but if the agricultural management is not good, perhaps the next year will not be so productive," said Sarah Kluth, green coffee buyer for Intelligentsia. "
Source: laprensagrafica.com
More on this topic
September 2011
More and more coffee farmers are establishing their own processing plants so that they can directly offer international buyers a distinguished product.
According to figures from the Instituto del Café de Costa Rica (Icafe) in 2010 there were 94 recorded plants, while in 2010 this figure reached 161.
May 2011
Producers have alleged that Costa Rican agents are arriving at their border farms offering very high prices, with which it is difficult to compete.
The uptrend that has seen the price of coffee on the rise for months is affecting consumers who must pay more for the same product.
July 2011
Although low, the final price paid exceeded the specialty coffee auctions in Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
The Cup of Excellence auction, hosted by Coffee Bean International for Target in the United States, ended with the sale of coffee from the “El Socorro” farm, which sold a lot of 26 quintals at $2012 each.
March 2011
Despite the high price of coffee, Anacafé considers that growers are nowhere close to sell their product at such prices.
The National Coffee Association (Anacafe) states in a press release:
Both the Guatemalan and the International Coffee Market are paralyzed. The sale and purchase of the bean by exporters is practically suspended.
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