COLOMBIA – Coffee Grower from Antioquia sells her coffee at record price of $45.70 per pound

BOGOTA – Ms. Carmen C. Montoya, winner of the Colombian Cup of Excellence Competition 2014 organized by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence and the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC), sold her coffee at a record price of $45.70 per pound at the Cup of Excellence Auction that took place on October 21st.
Her score of 91.31 points in the competition enabled her, along with thirty-three other coffee growers who scored over 85 points, to participate in the most famous international coffee auction in the world. Together, the thirty-four participants sold their coffee at an average price of $7.98 per pound.Carmen, who ownsa 2.5 hectare farm in Urrao-Antioquia, is now the Colombian coffee grower who has received the most money for her coffee in this international auction.
Luis G. Muñoz, CEO of the FNC, was pleased with the auction’s results. “The broad participation of international buyers and the prices achieved confirm, once again, that Colombian specialty coffees are widely accepted and attract more interest, directly benefiting smallholder coffee growers.”
Buyers who wanted to participate in the auction had to be enrolled at the Alliance for Coffee Excellence. The FNC sent them samples of the coffee lots that would be auctioned and fact sheets with their main characteristics. Carmen’s coffee was purchased by the Colombian firms Banexport, Café 18 and Café Palo Alto, in addition to buyers from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Hong King, Italy, Korea, Lithuania, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Norway. Lucas G. Melo, coffee grower from the department of Nariño, won second place in the competition and sold his coffee to a buyer from the United States at the second highest price in the auction ($22.20).
Out of the remaining thirty-two coffee growers, two sold their lots at more than $10 per pound. Pablo E. Montoya, from the La Esperanza farm (department of Antioquia) and Jesús M. Martínez from the Majagual farm (department of Antioquia) secured third and fourth place, respectively, and sold their coffee at $22.20 and $12.50 per pound, respectively.
It’s worth noting that eight out of the thirty-four coffee growers who participated in the auction were women. They sold their coffee at an average of $10.01 per pound and reaffirmed the commitment of Colombian female coffee growers toward producing high quality coffee.