Blue Mountain coffee on the rebound
Published:Monday | March 7, 2011 | 12:00 AM
There are signals of renewed interest from buyers of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee in Japan and indications of interest in new markets in the United States and Europe, Norman Grant, managing director of the Mavis Bank Coffee Factory (MBCF), said.
On Friday, Grant announced that over US$5 million in sales had so far been generated from the Japanese market for the current crop.
"These sales to Japan are a positive signal as we continue to consolidate the Japanese market," Grant said.
He also said the USA was being targeted for some 20 per cent of the export crop for the 2011-2012 crop.
Fallout from the global recession had affected the Japanese market for Blue Mountain coffee, Jamaica's largest buyer, with a monopoly of export sales by as much as 75 per cent in recent times.
Mavis Bank Coffee processes some 45 per cent of total Blue Mountain coffee exports.
Speaking at the signing of a memorandum of understanding between MBCF and Newport Fersan for the supply of 3,000 bags of fertiliser, worth J$10 million, to some 6,000 coffee farmers in the parishes of Portland, St Andrew and St Thomas on Friday, Grant said the intervention was a critical one to ensure the recovery of the industry and to maintain the integrity of the premier brand.
"This support will help the trees to redouble their efforts, if I may use such an expression, to ensure that the cherries picked after taking off the 2011 crop will be reple-nished," Grant said.
Recoverable cost
He said the cost of the fertiliser would be recoverable from any additional payments to farmers from the MBCF.
The managing director said that MBCF had paid farmers some J$18 million for 9,228 boxes between January and February this year at a cost of $1,500 per box, which brought total disbursement to J$153 million for a total of 93,338 boxes for the current crop. The factory was projecting to purchase over 100,000 boxes for the 2010-2011 crop, Grant said.
Dennis Valdez, administrative manager of Newport Fersan, welcomed the deal and expressed his company's commitment to the coffee industry and the farmers.