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International Coffee Producers Confer |
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Coffee producers met for the XIX International CoffeWeek (Sintercafé) in San José, focusing on achieving price stability in international markets. Sintercafé president Grace Mena summed up the general feeling: “If we have come through the price wars, we are still waiting for better times, and looking for new, improved ideas to keep prices steady.”
Hundreds of delegates came from Africa, the U.S., Latin America, Japan and Europe to work out different ways to ensure price stability. One of the most forthcoming alternatives was directed at increased production and marketing of “gourmet” or “fine” coffee to meet growing demand. Gourmet and organic coffees can fetch anywhere from US 5 dollars- forty per quintal (or 100 kilograms) over traditional coffees prices, which brought in 99.85 dollars per quintal in the December markets.
The national cupping contest brought no surprise winners, as the Barrantes Brothers Plantation swept the board again in the fine brand category. The Barrantes became the first Costa Rican coffee growers to showcase the Starbucks float in the Rose Parade last January. Their success, claims Manuel Antonio Barrantes, “starts when the plant goes into the ground. Only well ripened beans are processed, the machinery is kept spotles, grains are sun dried and never mixed from one day to the next.”
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