Welcome to November, 

At the start of this year, it was anyone’s guess how things would end up by November, however we are starting to embrace a return to ‘normal’ – and with that our ability to travel to origin again!

This month, Alex (our Key Accounts and Purchasing Manager) and Georgia (our Quality Manager) will set off to Colombia. The first stop on their trip is to the indigenous community in the southern Cauca region of Popayan. The CENCOIC group (Central Cooperativa Indígena del Cauca) based here is a cooperative comprised of multiple indigenous reserves that export their own coffee. Most farmer members of the cooperative have only about 1 hectare of coffee growing land each, at an average altitude of around 1800 metres.  Commonly growing varieties such as Caturra, Colombia and Tabi.

Coffees across all the reserves are de-pulped, fermented and dried at the farm. The farmers then deliver their parchment to the local collection warehouse where it is weighed and recorded before being sent to the warehouse in Popayan. In town each lot is assessed for quality and then dry milled and graded for export.

The CENCOIC coop is Fairtrade certified, which means the members earn premiums for the certified coffee they sell. The funds collected through the Fairtrade premiums are used to increase productivity through the implementation of new agricultural techniques and the purchase of agricultural materials and inputs. Surplus funds are usually applied to health and social housing projects, training, technical assistance, and a savings and investment fund that benefits the whole group. 

In addition to the Fairtrade premium, Bennetts donates a further USD$1,000 per container to the cooperative to use on improving cupping lab equipment, quality control training and school facilities for the members children.

Check out or Social Media platforms over the coming weeks for updates on our Colombian adventure. 

MARKET REPORT

“What goes up must come down”, so the saying goes… And boy, has the coffee taken it to heart, with Arabica prices plummeting for 13 sessions in a row. At the time of writing, this equals the record of continuous “red days” set back in 2013, only that time the “C” fell about 11 US cents/lb. 

This time however, the drop has been a more substantial 48 cents (or 22%) across the same time period taking the coffee price from its previous range-bound level of 217 US cents/lb to just on 169 US cents/lb. This is the lowest Arabica prices have been since the frosts hit Brazil in July of 2021, just over 15 months ago (or ten lifetimes in Coffee Trader years). 

The Robusta market (for those of you wondering) has also fallen quite steeply, although not as spectacularly as Arabica. Robusta futures fell from just under 2150 to 1870 US dollars per tonne, which equates to a 14% drop over a similar period. 

And what, you ask, has happened in the few weeks to turn the fortunes of the coffee market so sharply in such a brief period of time? Well, as usual, it’s a combination of factors. First and foremost, we can point the finger at the weather. Rains have been plentiful and widespread across Brazil’s coffee regions, and are expected to continue to be so for the remainder of the rainy season, meaning parched soils will be replenished and the coffee trees are expected to be able to bear and maintain a decent-sized crop for next year. Therefore, supply concerns have eased somewhat (with the caveat of course that you shouldn’t count your beans until they’re shipped and roasted, etc, etc, etc, right?). 

The concern, however, is that demand has also fallen very sharply on the back of continued high inflation and energy costs as well as impending recessionary fears, particularly in the larger Northern hemisphere economies in Europe and North America (which are now going into their colder months with not a lot of confidence that things will improve any time soon). As a result, consumer confidence is down, and consumption of coffee (among other things) is stagnant at best. And with demand gone AWOL, market participants have been bailing on the coffee markets en-masse these past couple of weeks.

It's still unclear as to where prices will settle in the short term, as things have been moving so fast. The general feeling is that we should find some solid footing in a new range, perhaps between 160 and 180 US cents/lb, but if things continue to deteriorate with the global economy even that range could prove to be short-lived. 

A WORD FROM THE CUPPING ROOM

Throughout the 2022 year, we were still feeling the flow on effects of shipping delays and container shortages. Unfortunately, this affected our supply of Amazing Coffee Without Caffeine for an extended period, However! Things are getting back on track, and we are happy to say we have stock of Swiss Water Decaffeinated coffee in store right now. 
Most recently on the cupping table were a couple of great arrival lots of Swiss Water, and in particular the Classic Blend, with notes of sweet chocolate and rounded acidity, and scoring over 80 points.  

In case you missed it, in September we changed the name of this Swiss Water processed blend, from “Robusta Blend’ to the ‘Classic Blend’ – but each bag still contains a sweet balanced mix of selected Central American and Brazilian Arabicas and just the right amount of Vietnamese Robusta. This decaffeinated coffee just tases like coffee! 

If you would like more information about our selection of Amazing Coffee Without Caffeine, get in contact with your Bennetts Account Manager today.