34 ROBUSTA
As Ted Lingle, Executive Director of the Coffee Quality Institute explains, a newly- developed Fine Robusta programme could be set to do for Robusta what specialty coffee programmes have done for production of Arabica
coffees. In November of 2007, the average ICO indicator price for Other Mild Arabica coffees was US$1.31; the same indicator price for Robusta cof- fees stood at US$0.92, a differential of US$0.39. In November of 2010, the average ICO
I
indicator price for Other Mild Arabica cof- fee had risen to US$2.33, a gain of US$1.01, but the same indicator price of Robusta coffees remained at US$0.92, showing no gain at all and increasing the differential to US$1.41, that is, three and a half times higher. Why is this? The increase in price differentials
between Arabica and Robusta during the past three years strongly suggests that programmes aimed at establishing benchmarks for top Arabica qualities - such as the Q Coffee System established by Coffee Quality Institute and the Cup of Excellence programme developed by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence - have been a success, and have given Arabica growers a tremendous push toward sus- tainable economic viability. This has led to improved qualities
across the entire Arabica production chain, pulled by the success of the Central American coffee producers, which other Arabica producing countries have sought to emulate.
Heightened
awareness The other significant impact from these activities has been a general heightening of the awareness of the importance of quality among coffee consumers, as evidenced by
n the last three years there has been a growing price disparity between Arabica and Robusta
the movement of major foodservice chains, such as McDonalds and Burger King, to high quality coffee and by the continued expansion of the specialty coffee industry in new markets in Asia and Eastern Europe. The unintended consequence of the
success of this effort has left the Robusta producers ‘in the lurch,’ a vulnerable and unsupportable position as indicated by the disparity in price levels between Arabica and Robusta. ‘Standards - Education - Ethics’ have
been the driving force behind the success of the Arabica producers’ efforts, and it is now time to apply this same formula for success to the Robusta coffee market.
Addressing
quality issues As a starting point, there is a critical need to address quality issues across a broad range of processing standards for Robusta coffees. The establishment of a bona fide standard for ‘Fine Robusta Coffees’ to meet the marketplace requirements for this category of coffee will build quality awareness among all Robusta producers. More importantly, the establishment
of a reliable Robusta supply chain that makes available regular and consistent supplies of high quality Robusta coffees will encourage roasters to offer this cat- egory of coffee to their consumers, thereby creating the consumer base needed to make the Robusta market
Creating a viable future for Robusta
Price differentials between Arabica (shown here) and Robusta have widened significantly
economically viable. This connectivity is par- ticularly important in Asia and Eastern Europe where Robusta coffees are often in the greatest demand. For the past 10
years, during the time of coffee oversupply, USAID and other inter- national governmental agencies invested heav-
ily in quality and processing improve- ments for washed Arabica. By enhanc- ing the value-added attributes of the top Arabica qualities, the marketing capacity and connectivity for these coffees were strengthened, particularly the premium prices paid by consumers as reflected in the 2010 price levels. Projects like the RATES/Chemonics
programme in East Africa that support- ed the East Africa Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA), and the CADR/CQI programme in Central America are good examples of the suc- cess of increasing producer incomes through quality improvement pro- grammes. A similar quality improvement programme is desperately needed for Robusta producers.
Fine Robusta
workshops Recognizing this, USAID, through the LEAD programme in Uganda (Susan Corning) supported by the COMPETE programme in East Africa (Steve Walls), took the first and essential step. Beginning in 2009, four Robusta Fine
Coffee Workshops were held in Kampala (August 2009, March 2010, and June 2010) and Ghana (November 2009) with the objective of establishing high quality stan- dards for Robusta that would be universally recognised and accepted by the coffee trade. This work was led by the CQI and was based on the lessons learned from building
May 2011 C&CI
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52