São Paulo – Small coffee producers could enter the international market. Large foreign processing companies are doing business with companies that produce small quantities of the products, since they can meet the planting, drying and selection of the berries and beans. One of the potential clients is the Italian company illy, which registered 391 million euros, or R$ 1.6 billion, in revenues in 2014, and has in Brazil one of its main suppliers. In an interview to ANBA, the company’s director, Anna Illy, said that it’s the quality of the grains that drives her company to buy or not from a supplier.
“Here in Brazil we buy batches starting at 80 bags [of 60 kg each] up to 1,000 bags. In other countries, the minimum is a container”, said the executive this Thursday (3rd) during the Women Vendors Exhibition and Forum (WVEF), an event held in the city of São Paulo that promoted business rounds between 420 supply companies and 40 buying companies all headed by women.
Illy attended WVEF after an invitation by the CEO of the International Trade Center (ITC), Arancha González. ITC is an agency of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and UN that promotes the internationalization of small and medium companies. In the business rounds, the executive from illy met with Brazilian, Rwandan, Peruvian and Ugandan executives, among other countries.
“I presented a lecture. We offered the entrepreneurs tips for the preparation and improvement of the bean’s quality. Of course, the end goal is for the companies of these businesswomen to become our suppliers, but maybe it will not be possible, that they won’t meet our requirements over the altitude and typo of coffee, for example. However, they can receive training to sell to other buyers”, said Anna.
Illy only buys beans from the Arabica type, the most produced in Brazil, and submits the product to evaluations before closing the deals. Other large international processing companies establish quality requirements for the bean. Currently, the multinational offers direct sales in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and has distributors in Recife, Manaus, Porto Alegre and in the federal capital Brasília. According to Anna, illy has a reference file of approximately one thousand Brazilian coffee producers.
To export is the goal
The trade director of the Rural Community Center of Conceição (CCRC), Minas Gerais, Julenia Maria Lopes da Silva, said that the association is improving the product and planning to export. Last year, the producers created a brand called Fruto Fino, as part of a project to expand coffee sales, which comes from family farms. CCRC produces on average 40,000 bags per year.
“We saw that ours is a quality product, but there’s still a large demand for the commodity coffee. We want it to be recognized as a special selection coffee”, said Silva. Special coffee is a top bean, according to its flavor and aroma features, among others. It meets the international qualification standards and brings a higher price than the regular coffee.
Usually, a special coffee is trade directly between the producer and the roaster. Eventually, the product is sold in auctions. Today, the coffee bag is listed in the international market at US$ 119.20, approximately R$ 447. A bag of special Arabica can double the price of regular coffee. Half of the production of CCRC’s members could enter the market of special coffees.
Silva says that she would like to start exports already in 2016. “Europe likes good coffee and could be a destination, just as buyers with who we met at WVEF, who come from the United States, South African and Ethiopia. They asked if we could fill half of the container with regular coffee and the other half with special coffee”, she says.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
