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Commodities > Coffee Coffee News
Angola’s Coffee Production Gets a Boost - March 2004 At least US$8.5 million is required for the rehabilitation of coffee production in Angola’s northern Kwanza-Norte province, under a three-year project. The programme, which follows an initiative from the International Coffee Council (ICC), will get financing of US$4.7 million from the Common Fund for Basic Projects. The programme will also benefit from an additional US$2.9 million that will be released by the European Union from US$800-900 from the Angolan Government. Angola receives rehabilitation investment funds - 01/03/04 Civil war results in smaller Ivorian output - 10/11/03 Ivory Coast's coffee production is believed to have fallen by about 40% during the course of the 2002/03 season as the ongoing civil war has forced many farmers to flee their farms. According to data released by the agriculture ministry, Ivory Coast produced 1.817m bags of coffee in the October to September 2002/03 season, down 40% on the 3.033m bags produced in 2001/02. However, export earnings were pegged at CFAFr47bn ($82m), up 4.4% on earnings in 2001/02. According to the ministry, the drop in production was due to plantations being abandoned by workers fleeing fighting between rebels and government troops in the wake of the uprising. However, according to statistics released by the International Coffee Organisation, Ivory Coast, which is traditionally Africa's largest producer and exporter of robusta coffee, produced 3.433m bags in 2002/03 - a negligible fall from the previous season. The Inter-African Coffee Organisation has estimated Ivory Coast's 2002/03 coffee output at between 2.3m to 2.5m bags due to the political upheaval. Ivory Coast's chief coffee growing region surrounds the central western town of Man, which is a rebel stronghold and transporting coffee was and continues to be fraught with danger. One London coffee analyst said: "We put the crop at something close to 180,000 tonnes or 3m bags. What the ministry is talking about is coffee that has been shipped out of the country - a lot went over the border to Guinea and other countries. "
I'm sure production did suffer and farms were abandoned but equally coffee
was at a very low price and I certainly wouldn't have been hanging around
harvesting if I was in the middle of that. The region around Man is in rebel
territory so it would have been very tricky to have been farming there." Civil war takes its toll on Ivorian coffee - 03/11/03 Ivorian coffee production fell by more than 1m bags during 2002/03 due to the political upheaval that continues to afflict the country. According to estimates from the Inter-African Coffee Organisation (IACO), Ivory Coast's 2002/03 harvest was between 2.33m and 2.43m bags, down from 3.49m bags in 2001/02. The industry was plunged into crisis when civil war broke out in September 2002, as the vast majority of Ivory Coast's coffee plantations are situated in western region controlled by rebel forces. Rebels holding the key coffee-growing region around the western town of Man prevented shipments getting to port and many migrant labourers from neighbouring Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso fled the country. Josefa Sacko, IACO's secretary general, told The Public Ledger that Ivorian coffee output for the current 2003/04 season should remain in the range of 2.3m to 2.5m bags and ruled out further declines in production. She said: "The 2002/03 harvest did not reach expectation, the farms were not accessible but in the few areas apart from around Man there was no problem in moving the coffee. Ivory Coast is dependent on coffee and cocoa for its economy so there is a lot of effort in making sure there's not a decrease in production." Ms Sacko shrugged off reports of ethnic tension between migrant workers and Ivorians, saying: "At the beginning of last season, many migrant workers fled but most have returned. Politicians play up internal problems and ethnic conflicts but it is not like this in the coffee areas - I worked on coffee farms and not once did I see anything like that." Civil war nearly halves San Pedro's exports - May 2003 Coffee exports from Ivory Coast's southwestern port of San Perdro have almost halved this year as the recent civil war has taken a severe toll on production and deliveries. Shippers said that exports from the port dropped to 8,356 tonnes in April from 15,394 tonnes in April 2002. Rebels holding the key coffee-growing region of central Ivory Coast, around the western town of Man, are preventing shipments getting to port and many migrant labourers have fled. One shipping company in San Pedro said that it had not shipped significant coffee volumes since the start of the marketing season. The United Nations has approved a peacekeeping mission to enforce a ceasefire agreed last week but rebels are still holding arms in the coffee-producing region and it could take some time before farmers return to their fields. Coffee consumption set to exceed output - January 2003 Global coffee consumption is set to overtake production for the first time in five years next season according to a recent market review by the International Coffee Organisation (ICO). According to the ICO's latest monthly market report, since 1997/98, coffee production has outpaced consumption by a long way but output in 2003/04 could fall short of demand by more than 5m bags. Brazil's new crop begins arriving in April and the official forecast has it falling some 20m bags to between 27.7m and 29.7m bags, although trade estimates for both next year and the current crop are significantly higher. Exports by nearly all producing countries are expected to fall in calendar 2003 due to lowered production, forcing traders to eat into massive stocks. The ICO estimated world opening stocks at 32.8m bags for 2002/03, down from 37.1m bags in 2001/02, although the recent Brazilian crop has inflated the global inventories considerably. It said that global availability, which incorporates total production and stocks, is estimated at 154.3m bags in 2002/03, up from 149.4m bags in 2001/02. Traders said that forecasts of a production deficit next year could prove wrong if Brazil's crop is larger than the official estimates Roasters expect speciality boom to continue - January 2003 European roasters have predicted that the recent boom in gourmet and organic coffee will continue for the foreseeable future as supermarkets try to meet increased consumer demand. While coffee consumption in general has been stagnant, or in some cases declining, across many European countries, demand at the gourmet end of the market has flourished. This has been brought about by speciality coffee shops such as Starbucks bringing high quality coffee to a wider audience and supermarkets offering a larger variety of high quality coffees. According to Dutch roaster Simon Levelt, gourmet and organic coffee could go on to dominate a significant portion of the Dutch market, where it currently accounts for about 3% of total volumes. He said: "Within five years, this type of product could account for 5% to 10% of the market." Close to 60% of the 1,200 tonnes of coffee roasted by Simon Levelt is organic and of this, a substantial amount is certified Fair Trade - the scheme which gives growers a higher return than the world market. Of late, the rapid growth in organic coffee demand has begun to outpace supply in some European markets as more farmers chase the premium prices it offers. However, some distributors of Fair Trade coffee have expressed concern that the price differential is pushing some consumers away. Related
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