BRASILIA, Brazil – After more than 90 meetings between 30 rural entrepreneurs and 20 international buyers, the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA), ended this month the virtual business roundtable for the Agro.BR project focused on the coffee sector. The initiative seeks to bring small and medium specialty coffee producers closer to buyers from countries in South America, Europe, and the Middle East, in addition to the United States and Canada.
The rural entrepreneurs who participated in the business roundtables were selected from the “Coffee from Brazil to the World” award, held by CNA, APEX-Brasil, and Sistema FAEMG/SENAR, which evaluated 25 samples from all over the country and revealed the best products within the Agro.BR project.
“Brazilian coffee is internationally acknowledged. We are the largest producers and exporters of coffee beans, but we understand that there are opportunities to conquer new markets and consolidate our participation in others,” said CNA’s International Relations advisor, Rafael Gratão.
Simone Sampaio’s coffee, from Araponga (MG), stood out in the awards and guaranteed her participation in the business roundtables. “To produce specialty coffee, you have to have a lot of dedication, study, and willpower, because it’s not like commodity coffee. We need to know where we are going to plant it, if the terroir is good, and if the location of the crop is good,” she said.
Juliana Mello, another producer who participated in the roundtables, argues that to produce coffee, it is necessary to have a complete vision from the farm to the cup.
“Our coffee varies from sweet notes (caramel, chocolate, milk chocolate, chestnut, and hazelnut) and citrus notes.” Quality and flavor notes are factors that attract international buyers, like Harm Jansen, from the Netherlands, who also took part in the business meetings.
“Our ambition is to positively impact different coffee communities. And our interest in negotiating with Brazil is because it is the largest coffee producer in the world with a variety of profiles and flavors, as they offer coffee from different regions and each one has a specific bean. The interest in the Brazilian product is precisely these nuances of flavors it offers.”
