4| Brazil – How is changing the Robusta market?       

The Robusta market is still mostly driven by price, not quality. Considering Robusta coffee is currently riding on the high point of its cycle, there seems to be no better time to take advantage of improved margins to make the necessary investments to deal with the inevitable market volatility in the future.

Placing Robusta in the cooperative portfolio

For improvements on a local level, it is worth exploring how to add Robusta to the portfolio of an Arabica coffee grower or cooperative. Robusta has a more stable annual production than the Arabica variety which has an ‘on and off year’ or biennial cycle. Growers could benefit from a more stable stream of revenues annually to offset the ‘off year’ characteristics of the Arabica variety.

Narrowing profit margins

Worldwide, the recent tight supply-demand balance has kept Robusta prices moving upwards, and has also narrowed the price difference with the Arabica coffee variety. These changes have certainly been positive for Robusta growers across the globe in the short term, providing farmers with a major boost in income.

Coffee drinkers in emerging markets

Recently, Robusta has been playing a major role in non-traditional coffee consuming countries. The largest coffee consumers are the United States and Brazil. However, in emerging markets with income constraints, demand has been mostly channelled to instant coffee and commodity grade roasted coffee, making Robusta an affordable choice.

Making tastier coffee

Historically, the Robusta variety has been used as a coffee blend filler and has traded at a fraction of the price as Arabica which has a more desirable taste. The undesirable flavour of Robusta is the result of poor handling and processing of the beans.

Therefore, roasters have responded to the growth in supply and the lower price of the variety by adopting steam cleaning and other technology that ultimately increases the percentage of Robusta used in coffee blends.

Farmers’ output

In the end, price dictates much of Robusta’s dynamics and positive results have certainly fueled interest in the still hand-picked Robusta beans. The recent margins achieved by Robusta farmers have been an indication of the benefits of higher yields, which lower unit costs and improve margins. Investments in crop care and the drying process, as well as stricter quality control by farmers should translate into an increase in efficiency and output in the coming years.

(Source: Rabobank)

 Source:1 9-Comunicaffé International April 11th, 2008

5| Exportwise | Spring 2008         

After winning a large contract with the Inter-African Coffee organization to train executives from 25 countries on best practices in exporting, EDC helped Consultation Contacts Monde through a loan guarantee to fund the trip.

ExFiles ; Consultation Contacts Monde Inc. Montreal, Quebec

By Gilbertlegras

The shift from growing coffee beans to exporting them successfully can be a large stretch. But Montreal-based international trade consulting firm Consultation Contacts Monde has been helping companies bridge this gap for a decade. The husband-and-wife team started their consultancy at home in 1998. Isabelle Limoges worked contract jobs in trade and development and Karl Miville-De Chêne traded coffee through his trading house, Caravan Trade, to bankroll the budding business. That same year the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) hired consultants to train Canadian firms on how to pierce the Mexican market. “At first we focused on  Latin America, then we expanded into the United States and now we’re in French Africa. We’ve always worked with private exporters and export promotion agencies,” says CCM co-founder Limoges. The quantum leap happened in 2000 when CCM moved into an office shared with Caravan Trade and the duo dedicated themselves full-time to their consultancy. Registering on DFAIT’s database and constant networking bore fruit in 2004 when a larger firm won a Canadian International Development Agency contract and then subcontracted CCM to help in Tunisia.

“We decided to open an office in Tunisia and hired a Montréal university student through a federal international internship program,” Limoges said. “It was meant to be for a six-month contract, but we established a formal

partnership with a local firm, and kept the office open for close to three years. That was important because Tunisia is a regional hub for technical assistance and that meant that Africans and the Canadian government took us more seriously,” she added.

In 2004, EDC accredited CCM to advise exporters in Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) compliance, which leant the company greater credibility to work on a Quebec provincial program to train exporters.

The EDC relationship grew further and led to a loan guarantee in December 2006. The company had landed a large contract with the Inter-African Coffee Organization to train 50 executives from 25 countries in January 2007 on best practices in exporting. The loan unlocked a bank’s line of credit so CCM could buy tickets and pay for the accommodations for the 50 African trainees during the two-week course in Abidjan.

“Imagine the impact on our cash flow had we not gotten this loan,” Limoges said. “This opportunity was a perfect alignment with our fields of expertise and it builds our credibility further with our banks.”

www.contactsmonde.com ■

Source: EDC

6| Un petit café ? Non, un petit empire !         

Julie Larochelle et son mari, David Thai, sont en train d’y bâtir la plus importante chaîne de commerces de détail. Avec l’aide d’autres Québécois.

par Pierre Duhamel

publié dans L'actualité du 1er avril 2008

Impossible de se promener dans Hô Chi Minh-Ville sans être étourdi par le bruit des quatre millions de motos qui y circulent à vive allure. Et sans tomber sur le logo rouge de Highlands Coffee, aussi présent que le vert de Starbucks l’est à New York. Impossible non plus pour un Québécois qui arrive dans la métropole du Viêt Nam de ne pas entendre parler de Julie Larochelle, cofondatrice de cette chaîne qui devrait compter 80 établissements d’ici la fin de l’année.

Julie Larochelle m’a fait penser à Catherine Deneuve dans le film Indochine : aussi belle, aussi blonde et aussi déterminée que le personnage incarné par l’actrice française. Heureusement, toute comparaison s’arrête là. Indochine rappelle la déroute de l’Empire colonial français, alors que la Québécoise, avec son mari d’origine vietnamienne, est à la tête d’un groupe d’entreprises qui symbolisent la renaissance économique du pays.

Comme dans un film, il s’agit d’une histoire familiale qui se transforme en histoire d’amour. En 1994, le père, Jean-Guy Larochelle, alors vice-président aux affaires juridiques de Desjardins, accepte un mandat de deux ans au Viêt Nam pour la filiale Développement international Desjardins. Il scelle un pacte avec sa femme et ses deux enfants : ils devront séjourner une année au Viêt Nam pendant qu’il y sera. Julie, qui étudie au Département d’économie agroalimentaire et des sciences de la consommation de l’Université Laval, met les pieds à Hanoi le 20 mai 1995, à 21 ans. Et n’en repart plus !

Quelques mois après son arrivée, elle rencontre David Thai, qui profite des vacances universitaires, à Seattle, pour visiter le pays où il est né 23 ans plus tôt. David tombe amoureux du Viêt Nam… et de la Québécoise de Sainte-Foy. Lui qui a vu grandir Starbucks veut implanter une chaîne du même genre au Viêt Nam. Si les Vietnamiens succombent eux aussi à l’espresso et aux cafés spécialisés, ce sera une occasion en or de bâtir une enseigne prestigieuse et de réhabiliter le café vietnamien, récolté sur les hauts plateaux du centre du pays (d’où le nom « Highlands Coffee »). Deuxième producteur au monde, le Viêt Nam exporte massivement des grains utilisés dans la fabrication de café soluble.

Les rêves sont beaux, la réalité plus amère. Le couple dispose de moins de 1 000 dollars et doit se contenter d’un repas par jour. Il n’a même pas assez d’argent pour mettre du carburant dans le scooter. David Thai obtient cependant l’une des toutes premières autorisations de posséder une entreprise privée accordées à un « Viet Kieu » — comme les Vietnamiens appellent leurs concitoyens rentrés d’exil. Dès lors, Viet Thai International (VTI), l’entreprise du couple, est considérée comme une société locale, ce qui lui confère un énorme avantage sur ses concurrents étrangers, soumis à plus de restrictions, notamment sur le nombre de magasins ou de restaurants autorisés. Un investisseur — un associé passif — a su percevoir l’extraordinaire atout que cela représentait et la détermination du jeune couple ; son apport a permis l’essor de l’entreprise.

Une dizaine d’années plus tard, Highlands Coffee torréfie, vend en gros et exporte du café, tout en exploitant la plus importante chaîne de cafés du pays. Les années de disette sont chose du passé. Julie, David et leurs trois enfants, Gabriel, Camille et Samuel (né en janvier), habitent à Phu My Hung, banlieue aisée du sud de Hô Chi Minh-Ville, à 20 minutes du centre-ville. La famille a les moyens de mettre de l’essence dans sa fourgonnette Ford et les deux aînés sont inscrits à l’école française.

Un daltonien pourrait confondre un café-bistrot Highlands Coffee avec un Starbucks — absent du Viêt Nam. Les clients y ont accès à Internet sans fil et peuvent prendre un goûter. Mais il n’y a qu’à Highlands qu’un café glacé s’appelle un ca phé sua da. Michel Tosto, jeune diplômé de HEC Montréal qui travaille à Hô Chi Minh-Ville pour le courtier Horizon Capital, m’avait chaudement recommandé le freeze — trop sucré à mon goût, mais fort agréable quand le thermomètre marque 35 ºC et que l’humidité se fait accablante.

Outre la patronne, quatre autres Québécois occupent des postes de direction au sein de Highlands Coffee. L’un d’eux, Francis Papillon, 33 ans, un ami de Julie Larochelle depuis l’école secondaire, est directeur de l’exploitation. Diplômé de l’Université Laval en relations industrielles, il est arrivé au Viêt Nam en mars 2004. En décembre dernier, il a épousé une Vietnamienne. Lui et Stéphane Grenier veillent au bon développement de la chaîne de cafés-bistrots les plus chics du pays. Pas simple quand on en ouvre un toutes les trois semaines. Depuis 2002, il s’en est ouvert 56 dans les cinq principales villes du Viêt Nam et 25 autres sont prévus d’ici la fin de l’année. Heureusement, VTI compte sur sa propre équipe d’architecture et de design et sur sa propre entreprise de construction.

À la fin janvier, Francis Papillon appréhendait déjà le retour des fêtes du Nouvel An, qui débutent la première semaine de février. « Nous savons par expérience qu’environ 30 % de nos 1 500 employés ne reviendront pas après les vacances. Le plus gros défi est celui du recrutement dans ce pays où le taux de chômage est de 4,2 %. » Malgré les bonnes conditions offertes par Highlands Coffee, les employés savent qu’ils pourront peut-être doubler ou même tripler leur salaire en changeant d’emploi.

Cette croissance débridée constitue par ailleurs une formidable occasion de faire des affaires. Parmi les 85 millions de Vietnamiens, encore peu nombreux sont ceux qui peuvent s’offrir un café glacé à 50 000 dôngs (3,50 $) ou un espresso à 35 000 dôngs (2,25 $). Une gâterie coûteuse, alors que le salaire quotidien, à Hô Chi Minh-Ville, est de six dollars, mais qui devient de plus en plus accessible à mesure que la classe moyenne grossit.

L’économie vietnamienne a doublé de taille depuis 10 ans. Et la croissance est encore plus rapide à Hô Chi Minh-Ville, avec un taux de 12,6 % en 2007 (mieux que la Chine). Les immeubles de bureaux y sont pleins à 99 %. Les investissements étrangers au Viêt Nam ont doublé en 2007, pour atteindre les 20 milliards de dollars. Preuve de cette ébullition, Intel, le fabricant américain de puces, a préféré le Viêt Nam à l’Inde pour une nouvelle usine d’un milliard de dollars.

Meet and Eat (se rencontrer et manger), une des entreprises de David Thai et Julie Larochelle, vient d’obtenir la concession de la cafétéria d’Intel, ce qui signifiera la préparation d’au moins 10 000 repas par jour. Une expérience qui sera répétée à Unilever. Car VTI, c’est plus que du café. Il faut plutôt parler d’un conglomérat, qui entend miser sur l’émergence d’une nouvelle classe de consommateurs.

Ainsi, le groupe exploite le 1911, un restaurant cinq étoiles au sous-sol de l’Opéra de Hanoi, dont la construction a été achevée en… 1911. Dans un tout autre registre, l’entreprise vient d’ouvrir un bar hip-hop dans la mégalopole du Sud. VTI est également propriétaire à 49 % de l’antenne vietnamienne de l’agence de publicité américaine Grey Global Group et elle exploite la concession des chaussures Nike au Viêt Nam, pour laquelle elle vient d’ouvrir un cinquième magasin. La conclusion d’une entente avec un autre grand groupe mondial sera annoncée au printemps. Julie Larochelle en était tout excitée, mais elle a refusé de m’en dire plus.

« David, c’est le créateur et le visionnaire, raconte-t-elle. Moi, je prends les moyens pour que le rêve se réalise. » Elle a même réussi à ramener son père au Viêt Nam : il est devenu le conseiller juridique et l’un des six administrateurs de l’entreprise.

« Nous voulons être le détaillant numéro un du pays. Le rêve de David est de bâtir une grande entreprise dont tous les Vietnamiens seront fiers », dit-elle. Plutôt que d’essaimer leurs marques dans les pays voisins, les deux fondateurs ont plutôt choisi de faire de leur entreprise un acteur de premier plan au Viêt Nam. « Le pays est dynamique et jeune. Dans 10 ans, plus de la moitié de la population aura encore moins de 30 ans. » La stratégie semble payante. Les revenus de VTI doublent chaque année et le cap des 10 millions de dollars a déjà été franchi.

Julie Larochelle aimerait bien aider à implanter une marque québécoise au Viêt Nam. Des pourparlers seraient déjà engagés, mais c’est motus et bouche cousue. « C’est peut-être Fruits & Passion, peut-être La Senza, peut-être Aldo, peut-être un exportateur de vins de glace ou de viande de porc », dit-elle pour bien brouiller les pistes. Chose certaine, une entreprise québécoise qui veut explorer ce marché entendra parler de Julie Larochelle.

 Source: http://www.lactualite.com/economie/article.jsp?content=20080305_142059_3568

7| Fair Trade or fairly traded?        

Fair Trade ensures consumers a proactive stamp of approval, but it is not the only solution to issues of coffee origin.
 

By Kelsey Kudak
 

t's extraordinary to think that dozens, maybe even hundreds of hands, touch every coffee bean that is in your cup of coffee," said Ric Rhinehart, executive director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America. We spoke during the annual conference for the SCAA - the world's largest gathering of coffee connoisseurs, technically perfect baristas and coffee growers. Last weekend, Minneapolis was not only home to the conference, but also to discussion of sustainability and quality within the market of great coffee.

While those directly involved in the specialty coffee industry understand the lengthy chain of supply that ensures a quality cup of coffee, the average consumer thinks little of this. Yet, whether we drink our morning coffee at Dunn Bros or at home, a significant number of individuals have cared for it before we even take a sip.

The production of coffee beans often begins several years before reaching the consumer. On average, coffee trees take five years to begin producing marketable cherries - grape-like fruits from which coffee beans are extracted. At the point of maturity, often during our winter months of January and February, harvesters are paid not only for the amount of cherries they can handpick in a day, but for the quality of the cherries they harvest. These cherries are then sold to a processor who extracts the pit of the fruit - our coffee bean - and ensures that beans are washed, dried and exportable. He then will sell these green beans to an exporter, who sells them to an importer in the United States, who sells them to a roaster and then to a retailer, who either sells the coffee by the pound or brewed cup. Though the chain exists in variations with omitted links, this basic model is the way coffee has been sold for hundreds of years.

A current trend that works to decrease the numbers involved in this incessant game of hot-potato is the Fair Trade industry. Through this Fair Trade, direct cooperatives are formed between roasters and individual farmers, thus eliminating the middleman and ensuring a better profit for the farmer. Fair Trade beans are purchased at a fixed price above the ever-changing market, and the Fair Trade logo is typically well advertised by the roaster. After organizing cooperatives in Nicaragua for 11 years, Paul Rice became the CEO of TransFair USA, with the belief that Fair Trade is a testament to the power the awakening consumer has through a simple cup of coffee. "We're turning a daily act that is not conscious into an act of goodwill, and that's a compelling notion in a nation where people care, but that don't have time," he said. "We don't have time to go to the PTA meeting or write a letter to the editor. Half our nation doesn't have time to vote. But we all eat, and that means most of us shop. So if the act of shopping and the act of consumption can become an act of reaching out, that is a powerful thing."

Peace Coffee in Minneapolis functions in this way. Selling all Fair Trade, organic beans, the local roasting company works with Cooperative Coffees to receive beans directly from farms around the world. After roasting and packaging, pounds of Peace Coffee are delivered to their respective retailers by bike through the humid summers and biting winters of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Fair Trade ensures consumers a recognizable stamp of approval when they purchase coffee. With the confusion of emerging certifications today, a customer can see the Fair Trade logo and be certain the product he or she purchases is supporting a proactive practice. But Fair Trade is not the solve-all solution to the issue of sustainable practices at origin. Currently, there are more certified beans produced than demanded annually in the market. In reality, about one third of the Fair Trade certified beans are actually sold to roasters. As the demand for Fair Trade has not risen to 100%, the other two thirds of the beans are sold at market price. Additionally, Fair Trade certification is only granted to smaller farms, and therefore excludes larger farms with similar practices.

In the specialty industry, the market price for beans is always the lowest common denominator. This is the price at which canned, commercial coffee is purchased, but never the price of specialty beans. The price of quality coffee is always higher than market and often higher than Fair Trade; each coffee differs in value. It is the cupper - the professional who determines its characteristics and value - who is given the most power within a particular chain of coffee supply. If a farmer does not know the quality of the bean he is producing or does not trust the person who tells him its value, he may be losing significant profit.

Traditionally, cupping has occurred higher up the chain, at the export or import level. But Ted Lingle, executive director of the Quality Coffee Institute, is working to return cupping to origin, so that farmers are able to make their own business decisions about the prices at which they sell their beans. "The benefit," he said, "is for a producing country. If you teach farmers how to separate their coffees for the market in advance, they have a greater opportunity to catch to coffees that are sold at premium prices. Because farmers had no idea what happened to their product once it left their farm, it was placing them at a big disadvantage in the marketplace." The Institute, which has worked throughout Central America and is currently working in Kenya, Ethiopia, Colombia and Indonesia, certifies cuppers from each of the respective countries, so they are able to work with their own farmers. "This ensures a grower the ability to have one of his own countrymen, someone in whom he has confidence, to cup his coffee and give him an independent report on its quality," said Lingle. If a farmer is able to independently access a qualified cupper, he is less likely to sell his coffee at an underrated price. Lingle's system directly empowers farmers because the bean determines its own price, instead of an organization like TransFair.

It is often stated within the specialty coffee industry that the quality of coffee is directly tied to the quality of life of the farmer. One cannot be raised without raising the other. If farmers are able to produce less coffee at a higher value, then we have found a beginning.

Kelsey Kudak welcomes comments at kkudak@mndaily.com.

Source: http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2008/05/07/72167138

8| Calendar of Events        

May 2 – 5, 2008:
SCAA 20th Annual Conference & Exhibition, Minneapolis Convention Center Tel: +1(562) 624-4100, Web: www.scaa.org.

May 14 – 16, 2008:
The Ultimate Barista Challenge, Seoul Food & Hotel Kintex Hall, Seoul, Korea. Web: www.ultimatebaristachallenge.com.

May 20 - 23, 2008:
Santos International Coffee Seminar, Hotel Sofi tel Jequitimar, Guarujá, São Paulo, Brazil. Tel: +55 13 3212 8200; E-mail: seminario2008@acs.org; Web: www.seminariocafe2008.com.br.

May 29 - 31, 2008:
XXIII Spanish Coffee Congress. World Trade Center, Barcelona, Spain. Tel: +34 963 155 788; Fax: +34 963 155 780; E-mail: inscripciones@gamacongresos.com; Web: www.gamacongresos.com.

 May 30 – June 1, 2008:
World Tea Expo, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas Tel: +1(702) 253-1893, E-mail: info@worldteaexpo.com, Web: www.worldteaexpo.com.

 June 6 – 8, 2008:
Coffee Fest Kona, Hawaii. Tel: +1(425) 283-5058, E-mail: TamaraS@coffeefest.com, Web: www.coffeefest.com.

 June 19 – 22, 2008:
SCAE Copenhagen, Denmark. Tel: +44 1245 426060, E-mail: secretary@scae.com, Web: www.scae.com.

June 24, 2008:
Tea Association Golf & Dinner Outing, Siwanoy Country Club, Bronxville, NY. Tel: +1(212) 986-9415; Fax: +1(212) 697-8658; E-mail: info@teausa.com; Web: www.teausa.com.

August 14 - 17, 2008:
Roasters Guild Retreat. Ruttger’s Sugar Lake Lodge, Grand Rapids, Minnesota; E-mail: roastersguild@scaa.org.

September 1 - 3, 2008:
VIII Ramacafe 2008 International Coffee Conference, Crowne Plaza Hotel Convention Center, Nicaragua. Tel: +1(505) 2673704; E-mail: ramacafe2008@gmail.com, Web: www.ramacafe.com.

September 12-14, 2008:

Coffee Fest – Seattle, Washington State Convention & Trade Center, Seattle, WA. Web: www.coffeefest.com.

September 14 - 19, 2008:
22nd International Conference on Coffee Science, Casa de Campa - The Royal Palm Plaza Hotel, Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Tel: +55 11 5090-3007; E-mail: asic2008@adsbrasil.com, Web: www.asic-café.org/asic2008.

September 15, 2008:
Green Coffee Association Annual Golf Outing and Dinner, Ardsley Country Club, Ardsley on Hudson, New York. Tel: +1(212) 201-8883.

November 7-9, 2008:

Coffee Fest Hong Kong, AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong. Web: www.coffeefest.com.

November 12 – 15, 2008:
TriestEspresso Expo, Trieste, Italy Tel: +39 040 9494111 Fax: +39 040 39 30 62 E-mail: espresso@fiera.trieste.it Web: www.fiera.trieste.it/espresso.

November 20 - 22, 2008:
Tea & Coffee World Cup/Asia, Hyderabad, India. For Asia, Eastern Europe, Russia: contact: Glenn A. John, Lockwood Publications, Inc. Tel: +(66) 22 55 66 25, Fax: +(66) 26 55 22 11 or +1(212) 937-3476 E-mail: glenn@teacoffeeasia.com, Web: www.tcworldcup.com/hyderabad. For all other areas, contact: Robert Lockwood, Lockwood Publications. Tel: +1(212) 391-2060, Ext. 112 Fax: +1(212) 827-0945 E-mail: Robert@lockwoodpublications.com.