São Paulo – Established in 1968, in Vitória, in the state of Espírito Santo, the Coffee Export Union (Unicafé) is the main exporter of Brazilian coffee grain. At its own farm, where there are three million coffee plants, the company produces 25,000 bags of coffee grains a year, but exports another 2.2 million bags produced by 500 associated farmers. Among the company’s foreign markets are the Arab nations: Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia and Jordan.
The Arabs, however, do not buy any kind of coffee. “Espírito Santo produces one kind of coffee that is greatly appreciated in the Arab world, Rio arabica coffee, which has a stronger and taste and is more bodied,” said Jair Coser, the president at Unicafé. "The coffee sold to the Arabs must always be this kind. They do not accept change,” said the businessman.
Focussed exclusively on the foreign market, Unicafé has its main client in the United States. Then come Europe and Japan. The Arabs represent just 7% of company sales, but Coser does not complain. “The Arab market is constant and safe,” he said. “They are good clients, who always buy and are good payers,” he pointed out. In total, the company exports coffee to 43 countries.
Coser stated that global consumption of coffee grows, on average, 2% a year. "The whole world consumes 135 million bags of coffee a year. Of this total, 105 million are consumed by countries that import but do not produce, like the Arabs,” he said.
Regarding Brazilian exports, the businessman says that the country should export less coffee, but that revenues should rise, due to the commodity’s high price. "This year production should drop. In the 2009/2010 crop, we produced 33 million bags, this year production should reach 30 million. However, revenues, which totalled US$ 6 billion last crop, should climb to US$ 7 billion in 2011.”
At Unicafé, revenues in 2010 were US$ 300 million. Expectations for 2011 are for revenues to end at US$ 400 million. The average price per 60 kilogram bag exported by Brazil, according to Coser, is US$ 280.
Contact
Unicafé
Tel.: (27) 2123-5858
E-mail: unicafe@unicafe.com.br
Site: www.unicafe.com.br
*Translated by Mark Ament
