Puerto Rico begins coffee exports to Japan

Puerto Rico begins coffee exports to Japan

The Puerto Rican coffee industry, hurt by labor shortages, low prices and last year's Hurricane Hugo, finally has something to cheer about: the beginning of coffee exports to Japan.

The transaction, announced in early January, involves

Lares coffee grower Neftali Soto and Japan's largest coffee distributor, the Tokyo-based Ueshima Coffee Corp. Soto will initially sell 40,000 pounds (400 quintales) of premium coffee beans to Ueshima under the Alta Grande label.

Robert Ruenitz, a representative of Nipuspan International Corp., formed for this specific venture, declined to put a dollar value on the transaction, saying financial details were private. However, a similar gourmet label, Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee, retails for $22 a pound in New York and considerably more in Tokyo. That would put the retail value of the initial shipment of Puerto Rican coffee, being marketed under the Alto Grande label, at around $900,000.

"The market for premium coffee in Japan is very sophisticated," he said. "Ueshima is after good coffee wherever they can find it. They search every corner of the world. Where it will go in the Japanese market is really a matter of how the Japanese consumer reacts."

The president of Nipuspan, Dennis Evans, lives in Vega Baja, as does its vice president of operations, Jose Texidor Colon.

According to Alfonso Davila, the No. 2 man at Puerto Rico's Department of Agriculture, "Our policy is to open new foreign markets for quality coffee exports." Davila predicts the island will be self-sufficient in coffee production within five to 10 years.

Peru's coffee exports takes a loss.

Peru's coffee exports takes a loss.

PERU -- A substantial increase in Peru's coffee production over the past years can be seen when the 81,000 lbs. produced in 1990, are compared to the 350,000 lbs. produced in 2006.

Due to its trade value, Peru's coffee is considered important inthe country's economy. President of Peru's Chamber of Coffee and Cocoa, Luis Navarro Vascones, reported that last year alone, coffee exports amounted to $513 million. He also reported that coffee production is the main agricultural activity in the high jungle, where it supports 150,000 families, which cultivate it for a living.

Amid all of the positive reports, The president of Peru's National Coffee Assembly (JNC), Cesar Rivas Pena, has stated that production level is highly at risk, due to the fact that the plants, which account for the massive production of coffee in Peru, is old.

Rivas Pena stated that financial help was needed so the old plants could progressively be replaced. He added that Peru's coffee industry would suffer a 460 million sole loss due to the old plants.

Pena added that another problem was that producing cocoa plants was easier and much more profitable for farmers than producing coffee, due the frailty of the plant.

A meeting has been scheduled with Peru's Ministry of Agriculture to try and solve the problem. Pena stated that a prepared plan will be presented, at which time help in replacing the old plants will also be requested.

Jose Luis Camino, the main advisor for the Ministry of Agriculture has stated that the Ministry is willing to help, acknowledging that coffee is an important export in Peru.