BRUSSELS, Belgium – The European Coffee Federation (ECF), representing the European coffee trade and industry, released today its revised edition of the European Standard Contract for Coffee (ESCC). The first edition of the ESCC was published by the ECF in 2018, as the result of the amalgamation of the European Contract for Coffee, European Free Carrier Contract for Coffee, European Contract Spot Contract and European Delivery Contract for Coffee.
There are basically three types of contract covered by the ESCC:
- Shipment: Such contracts will usually be under FCA, FOB, C&F or CIF terms. Although under an FCA contract the sellers’ responsibility ends upon delivery at the named place, the buyers must ship the goods within a stipulated period to benefit from the sellers’ obligations under weights and quality. Generally, FCA contracts will be made based on “loaded weight” and FOB, C&F and CIF contracts will be made on a “shipped weight” basis (or alternatively “landed weight” for CIF sales).
- Delivery: These contracts are generally envisaged to be made for coffee for delivery at an agreed place in Europe basis in/ex store or FCA. The coffee eventually tendered under a delivery contract will not necessarily be already lying in Europe at the time of sale and, importantly, any failure by the sellers to obtain coffee does not release the sellers from the obligation to tender.
- Spot: Spot coffee is coffee lying in a warehouse in Europe at the time of sale. Usually, the conditions will be in/ex store, FOB, FCA, DAT, DAP or DDP.
Click here to see the different editions of the coffee contracts.
