LONDON – World coffee exports amounted to 8.65 million bags in January 2014, compared with 9.45 million bags in January 2013 (-8.38%). Exports in first four months of coffee year 2013/14 (Oct/13 to Jan/14) have fallen by 8.7% in comparison with the first four months of the last coffee year.
In the twelve months ending January 2014, exports of Arabica totalled 68.48 million bags compared to 67.95 million bags last year; whereas Robusta exports amounted to 40.03 million bags compared to 44.17 million bags.
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Sustainable Coffee Farming: Business Opportunities for African Farmers
Mr Robério Oliveira Silva, Executive Director of the ICO, delivered a keynote speech at the official opening ceremony of the 11th African Fine Coffee Conference and Exhibition in Bujumbura, Burundi, on 13th February 2014. In his speech, the Executive Director spoke of the environmental, social, and economic aspects of sustainable coffee production.
The Organization is working to promote an awareness of the need for a sustainable coffee economy by making stakeholders in the coffee sector aware of the threat to sustainability posed by negative economic conditions for producers, and proposing measures in areas such as quality, promotion, and diversification to maintain balance in the world coffee market.
Silva highlighted these four basic points:
- Following sustainable principles is important and can provide concrete benefits to most stakeholders involved in the coffee business;
- Improving productivity should be a key element in any sustainable initiative;
- Farmers need institutional support to obtain appropriate certification; and
- Methodologies exist to evaluate the various certification schemes on offer.
Read the full speech at this link: http://www.ico.org/news/EDspeech-Burundi-FEB2014.pdf.
