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Volume 8, Number 7 July 2003
SAG/PEC Antioxidant Workshop at
Biannual ASIC Conference
NCA Fall Education
Conference Update
ISIC to Match €4.5
Million Promoting Coffee in Europe Over Three Years
Second Study Shows
Coffee May Cut Diabetes Risk
USDA Projects 107.1 Million Bags for 2003/04,
Down 13 Percent
Fedecafé to Resurrect Juan Valdez in $9 Million
U.S. Consumption Campaign
Colombia Working to Increase Domestic Coffee
Consumption
NYBOT Upgrades
Peruvian, Honduran and Indian Coffees.
Australian Coffee
Production to Grow, New Development Council Says
Retail prices (all
sizes/per pound)
The ICO composite
average indicator prices
SAG/PEC Antioxidant Workshop at Biannual ASIC Conference
A
special workshop on recent promising research concerning the very high levels
of antioxidants found in coffee will be co-sponsored by NCA's Scientific
Advisory Group (SAG), and its European counterpart, PEC (Physiological Effects
of Coffee), at the next International Conference on Coffee Science, to be held
Oct. 27-31, on Kauai, Hawaii.
The
Conference, held every two years, is sponsored by Paris-based ASIC (Association
Scientifique International du Café). ASIC was founded in 1966 to distribute
scientific knowledge about coffee as widely as possible, as well as technical
and applied knowledge, and to facilitate exchanges between experts. Its last
conference was held in Trieste, Italy, in 2001. Conferences alternate between
consuming and producing locales.
Antioxidants,
which have received increasing attention in recent years, are compounds that
inhibit oxidation of cells in the body, and are believed to protect against
degenerative diseases like cancer and heart disease. Certain foods are known to
contain antioxidant compounds, but the activities of those compounds in the
body, their chemical profile in plasma, their absorption, metabolic fate and
bioavailabilities are less clear.
The
SAG/PEC-sponsored program will present scientists from Italy, Switzerland,
Germany and the U.S., discussing the role and importance of antioxidants in the
diet, chemical characterization of antioxidants in coffee, quantitative
assessment of anti-oxidants in coffee, the availability to human tissues of
antioxidant compounds consumed in coffee and their actual antioxidant
capacities in the body, and a panel discussion on future research directions.
One
presenter will be Dr. Cristina Scaccini, of the National Institute for Food and
Nutrition Research, in Rome, who will discuss research finding that coffee's
antioxidant properties are highly available within the body and are superior to
tea and other beverages.
Other
programs at the Conference will focus on other aspects of coffee and health, as
well as on coffee agronomy and technology. The mix of experts from various
disciplines, allowing the cross-pollination of information, is one of the aims
of the biannual Conference.
Further
information about these programs and registration may be found at the ASIC
website: www.asic-cafe.org.
"Coffee on the Hill" Update
Detailed
information on NCA's "Coffee on the Hill 2003" was e-mailed to
members in early July. During the event, scheduled for September 16 & 17,
in Washington, DC, coffee industry professionals will let elected officials
know their views on the critical issues now affecting the coffee industry.
The
information sent contained the event schedule, registration forms, information
on accommodations, sample letters to send to your representatives to urge their
participation and to schedule personal appointments, and an outline of some of
the issues to be addressed at the event.
In order
to access the letter and the information it provides, go to
http://www.ncausa.org/public/pages/index.cfm?pageid=279
Many
issues confront the coffee industry. Your voice is needed. Please register and
plan to attend. For additional information call NCA at (212) 766 4007.
NCA Fall Education Conference Update
The
complete program and registration materials for the NCA Fall Education
Conference are now posted on the NCA website, www.ncausa.org. The conference,
set for Oct. 16 & 17 at the Metropolitan Hotel in New York City, is
designed to provide coffee professionals and others with comprehensive
knowledge of the fundamentals and past-year developments in either coffee
production, in Track 1, "Total Quality & New Realities," or the
business of coffee, in Track 2, "The Frontline of Coffee Marketing."
This
year's program begins with a General Session kick-off for both tracks featuring
Ralph Russo, President and CEO of Sara
Lee Coffee & Tea Foodservice, providing his view of industry developments
in "New Products & Trends." The industry has gone
through much change in the past few years, Mr. Russo notes, and rather than
slowing down, the change is accelerating. Then Marc Beckmann, of the NKG Partnership of Sustainability, will discuss
the increasing responsibility to achieve sustainability the coffee industry
faces, how companies are reacting and how this could change the coffee industry
in the future, in "Achieving Global Sustainability."
The two
tracks then break out. Track 1, "Total Quality & New Realities,"
will take participants step-by-step through a two-day, nine-session program
that will go from agriculture and processing, in "Coffee at Origin,"
through an extremely timely presentation on "How Coffee Traffic Will be Effected by the New
Bioterrorism Regulations" (the new regulations are scheduled to be
published in October and to take effect on Dec. 12), and on to a tutorial on
"Cupping and Grading" at the new New York Board of Trade facilities
in lower Manhattan. Day two will include sessions on "Ensuring Quality in
the Roasting Process," "Achieving a Gold Cup Standard in
Brewing," and "Brewing Good Coffee Starts with Good Water," and
will also cover the finer points of "What Makes Espresso, Espresso,"
which will discuss the distinct characteristics of the espresso
beverage, and "Robustas: The Full
Story," which will review robustas' processing, trading
history, production and usage, and examine the opportunities residing in what
is now seen as the poor relative in the coffee family.
Track 1
will conclude with a "Roaster
Tour" at the roasting facility of Dallis Bros., a major
specialty roaster in the New York area.
Participants
in Track 2, "The Frontline of Coffee Marketing," will receive a wide
variety of perspectives on latest developments in the coffee business from
large and small companies, as well as the latest news on recent positive
research findings about coffee and health and how that may impact consumer attitudes,
and a look at developments in the overall non-alcoholic beverages category.
Track 2 will include presentations on the opportunities presented by new
developments in liquid coffee, adding value to the office coffee sector with
branded coffees, the potential of robusta coffee, the benefits of the single
origin mystique, the increasing consumer-appeal of whole-bean, accommodating
new realities in certified coffees, the practical use of new distribution
channels opened up by the internet, and opportunities deriving from current
packaging innovations will be rounded out with sessions on the opportunities
and challenges of corporate social responsibility, managing media crises,
keeping marketing in line with your organization's core mission and the challenges
and opportunities of corporate social responsibility.
Many developments have occurred in both the production and marketing of
coffee in the past year. Last year's Education Conference was quickly
over-subscribed. For further information or to register, please visit the NCA
homepage at www.ncausa.org.
ISIC to Match €4.5 Million Promoting Coffee in Europe Over Three Years
The
Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC) announced last month the
establishment of a new three-year "Positively Coffee Market Development
Program," beginning in 2004 to promote coffee consumption, and thus help
alleviate the current coffee crisis, by providing up to €1.5 million (about
$1.3 million) yearly in matching funds to European national coffee associations
for coffee promotion initiatives.
ISIC, a
European coffee-industry organization based in Paris, was established in 1991
to promote coffee by supporting public information education and scientific
research concerning coffee. It has since sponsored 32 studies, with 14 more
underway. The new program will be sponsored by ISIC, but administered under the
aegis of ICO.
The new
program will provide a maximum of €300,000 per year each to national coffee
associations in Europe to match funds spent by the associations on promotional
activities. The program will be evaluated for effectiveness after the first and
second years.
In a
letter sent by ISIC President Dr. Ernesto Illy to the presidents of major
European coffee associations inviting them to urge their national association
members to submit proposals for matching funds, the program was described as
being based on a "bottom up approach," in which each national
association will design promotions most suited to their own national audiences.
Upon approval, the new program will match funds raised by the national
associations to implement the promotions.
The new
Positively Coffee Market Development Program will complement the already
existing Positively Coffee program, which is a "top down" design in
which health-oriented promotional messages and literature are developed
centrally by the Positively Coffee program and distributed to national sectors
for use, as appropriate, in their own markets. The combination of the two
complementary approaches should enhance both efforts.
Eligible
national sector participants are urged to submit proposals by September 15, for
January 2004 implementation.
Second Study Shows Coffee May Cut Diabetes Risk
A study by Harvard School of Public Health researchers presented last month at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) annual meeting in New Orleans appears to corroborate findings of a Dutch study published in The Lancet last fall, which found coffee drinking helps protect against the development of Type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes results from insulin resistance, a condition in which the body fails to properly use insulin, the hormone needed to convert sugars, starches and other food into energy in the cells. Insulin "unlocks" the body's cells, according to the ADA, allowing glucose to enter and fuel them. Ninety-five percent of diabetes is Type 2. Type 1 diabetes, affecting 5 percent of cases, is the complete inability to produce insulin. Around 17 million Americans have Type 2 diabetes, and many more are undiagnosed.
The Harvard study looked at data collected from 42,888 men and 85,056 women who were followed for 12 and 18 years respectively in two famous long-term epidemiological studies, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Nurses' Health Study. All subjects were diabetes-free when the studies began and their coffee drinking and other habits were assessed bi-annually throughout the studies. During follow-up, thirteen hundred of the men and 4,000 of the women developed Type 2 diabetes, but men who drank 4 or more cups of coffee a day had a 29 percent lower incidence of diabetes than those who drank three or fewer cups. Men who drank 6 or more cups had a 54 percent lower risk of getting the disease. Women who drank four cups also reduced their risk 30 percent, though greater consumption was not associated with further risk reduction.
In last November's Lancet study, conducted at Vrije University in Amsterdam, researchers had examined epidemiological data from 17,111 Dutch men and women followed over 125,774 person-years, and found those who drank seven cups of coffee per day were half as likely to develop the disease as those who drank two cups or fewer.
Scientists are uncertain what causes the effect, and many former sceptics are surprised, since other studies that have looked at the effect of a single cup of coffee have shown that acute administration of caffeine decreases insulin's effectiveness and the ability to process glucose.
The Harvard study appears to confirm that it is the caffeine in coffee that is responsible for the positive long-term effect. One of the authors, Frank Hu, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, told colleagues at the ADA's 63rd Scientific Session that his group also studied the effect of other compounds in coffee, including magnesium, niacin, potassium and the antioxidant tocopherol, by examining the data for tea and decaf consumption as well. Decaf also contains these substances. Tea has other substances, but much less caffeine than coffee.
There was a "modest reduction in risk" for decaf drinkers, he said, but the researchers were unable to control for the amount of regular coffee the decaf drinkers also drank. Tea had no effect.
The researchers also examined diabetes risk reduction for total caffeine intake from colas and other foods, in addition to coffee intake, and found that people in the highest fifth of caffeine intake had lower risk. Men were 22 percent less likely, and women 30 percent less likely, to develop diabetes.
"When the Dutch study came out, I was shocked. But now with this second study that shows the same thing, you start to believe it," Terry E. Graham, PhD, Chair of Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, was quoted in a report of the meeting in Medscape. Dr. Graham had presented a different study examining the acute effect of the equivalent of two cups of coffee on 12 men who already have Type 2 diabetes, which found increased insulin sensitivity and higher glucose levels. His study of the acute affects of caffeine, and the Dutch and Harvard studies of the long-term effects of coffee, would seem to be counterintuitive.
However, he noted, the Harvard study is even more thorough than the first, with more accurate data about the participants' coffee habits over 10 to 15 years. "Plus, they evaluated tea and decaf, which the first study didn't."
One possible reason for the result, according to Dr. Hu, might be that caffeine stimulates thermogenesis and increases energy expenditure. "This could decrease obesity rates and thus diabetes." Other studies looking at this question are ongoing.
According to the report in Medscape, Dr. Hu said that he is not yet ready to recommend coffee for diabetes prevention. "We still need more study," he said. But for the diabetic patients who ask if coffee is detrimental, he noted, "I don't think they have to worry."
USDA
Projects 107.1 Million Bags for 2003/04, Down 13 Percent
According to
the “Tropical Products; World Markets and Trade” USDA Foreign Agriculture
Service (FAS) report, 2003/04 world
coffee production will total 107.1 million 60-kilo bags, down 13 per cent from
the 2002/03 level of 122.7 million bags.
"Most of
the reduction is attributed to the substantial decline in Brazil's 2003/04
coffee production level," FAS reported. Brazil’s production of coffee
during 2003/04 is forecast at 33.6 million bags, a drop from 51.6 million bags
in the previous year.
Total world
2003/04 supply, including stocks, is forecast at 136.2 million bags, down
nearly 6 percent from the previous year, mainly because of the lower crop in
Brazil. Because of the lower supplies, total coffee exports are also expected
to drop in 2003/04, to 86.9 million bags, a decrease of 2.1 million. However,
to maintain even this level of export, FAS projects ending stocks for the year
to drop to only 20.7 million bags, 7 million less than this year.
FAS does
project some countries will increase production in 2003/04, partially
offsetting the Brazilian decline. Colombia is projected to increase production
by an additional 900,000 bags, Vietnam by 500,000, Mexico by 300,000, Ethiopia
by 250,000, Honduras by 200,000, Thailand by 143,000, Kenya by 132,000, and
Peru, Ecuador and Uganda by 100,000 bags each.
Much of the
significant reduction in Brazilian production is a consequence of
"expected lower yields, especially in the arabica-producing regions,"
FAS said. Many trees will be on the off-year cycle after record crops in
2002/03, with many plantations being pruned and stumped. Arabica coffee
production in Brazil for 2003/04 is expected to be 23.3 million bags, 41 per
cent less than 2002/03, and robusta production is forecast at 10.3 million
bags, down 1.7 million bags from 2002/03.
However,
although much of the reduction seems to be cyclical, a significant portion may
represent permanent loss of production due to the current crisis. "Depressed
coffee prices also led to under-average crop management for many producing
regions. Growers reduced their use of inputs (lime, fertilizer, chemicals) to
cut costs,” the FAS reported. “Depressed coffee prices led some producers to
abandon their plantations, shifting to more profitable crops such as soybeans,
corn and sugarcane.”
Fedecafé
to Resurrect Juan Valdez in $9 Million U.S. Consumption Campaign
After a more than year-long hiatus the National
Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (Fedecafé) has announced plans to
launch a new U.S. consumption campaign featuring Juan Valdez.
According to a report from Reuters, the $9 million
budgeted campaign will coincide with the slated September launch of Colombia's
first gourmet coffee shop abroad, in New York City. There, coffee lovers will
be able to snap up premium beans as wells as T-shirts and coffee cups bearing
Valdez' mustachioed grin. "In July, we'll be putting the finishing touches
to the new (advertising) strategy and in September, after everybody is back
from summer vacations, it will be ready," Fedecafé General Manager Dr.
Gabriel Silva told the news service.
The Federation retired Valdez and his trusty mule more
than a year ago due to budget cuts, according to the Reuters report. U.S. based
Interpublic Group, Inc., the world's second-largest owner of advertising
agencies, won the contract to resurrect him, and in what may be a sign of
things to come, an agency owned by Interpublic helped promote Valdez's first
motion picture appearance this year. Valdez won a cameo role in Jim Carrey's
latest film, "Bruce Almighty," in which he pours the lead character a
cup of coffee. "Looking at the movie, this was a new direction," said
Josh Gilbert, Senior Vice President at Weber Shandwick, which is owned by
Interpublic and is handling public relations for the Colombia account.
"The movie introduced him to new audiences."
Juan Valdez was created in 1960 by New York-based DDB
Worldwide Marketing and immediately became one of the most successful characters
in advertising history. He has arguably been Colombia's best diplomat. He has
posed for pictures with former U.S. President Bill Clinton and was awarded
Colombia's National Order of Merit in the Grade of the Silver Cross. Between
1995 and 1999, Colombia poured $40 million a year into advertising. In 2001,
Colombia, the world's second-largest coffee producer after Brazil, spent nearly
$30 million, before shutting the campaign down the following year.
In addition to promoting the direct to consumer Juan Valdez
coffee shops, the new ad campaign will be directed to appeal to younger
drinkers, according to an article in Adweek.
Colombia
Working to Increase Domestic Coffee Consumption
The Colombian coffee industry will spend 6 billion pesos
(about $215,000) this year on an advertising campaign aimed at doubling
domestic coffee consumption by 2008, the country's National Federation of
Coffee Growers, or Fedecafé, said, according to a report from Oster/DowJones in
Bogotá.
As in Fedecafé's initiatives to promote U.S. consumption
(see related story), the advertisements will target young people in Colombia.
The U.S. effort will build the Colombian Coffee brand using Fedecafé's iconic
Juan Valdez character. In Colombia, they will seek to dispel the myth that drinking
coffee causes health problems.
The campaign will be funded by Fedecafé and three
private companies in Colombia that package and sell coffee, Fedecafé said in a
statement.
For the past 15 years, Colombians have consumed roughly
2 kilograms of coffee per year -- less than half the amount consumed by people
in the rest of the world, according to Fedecafé. Colombia is the world's
largest producer of mild washed arabica coffee. According to the USDA Foreign
Agriculture Service, in 2002/03 Colombia produced 10.9 million bags of coffee
and consumed 1.6 million.
NYBOT Upgrades Peruvian, Honduran and Indian Coffees
The New
York Board of Trade (NYBOT) announced last month that, effective with the July
2005 delivery, its Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange (CSCE) Coffee Rules will be
amended to provide that the differential for delivery of coffee from Peru and
Honduras will be zero (i.e., they will be delivered at par), and the
differential for delivery of coffee from India will be minus 100 points.
Current differentials
for Peruvian and Honduran coffees are each minus 100 points, and the
differential for Indian is minus 300 points.
The
differential for delivery of a coffee refers to the discount, or premium, in
price a buyer is either entitled to or required to pay when accepting delivery
of a particular coffee in fulfilment of a C-contract. Every hundred points of
differential is equivalent to a cent per pound. Differentials for various
coffees, whether discounts, premiums, or par, are part of the contract and are
determined by the CSCE Coffee Committee.
NYBOT’s
coffee contract calls for delivery of washed Arabica coffee produced in
nineteen Central and South American, Asian and African countries.
Each
contract is for roughly 250 bags of coffee (or 37,500 pounds).
"What the changes reflect is a belief on the
part of the Coffee Committee that the average quality of c-style coffees from
Peru, Honduras and India have improved, based on cash market trends in the last
few years," said NYBOT Vice President for Market Development Tim Barry.
"The Coffee Committee is made up of
representatives from various sectors of the coffee trade, and it includes many
members active in the cash coffee market. We rely on the collective knowledge
gained by the individual members to keep the contract abreast of developments
in the changing cash market," he explained.
"The change should make the futures contract a
more attractive hedging vehicle for owners of Peruvian, Honduran and Indian
coffees."
The text of the new amendments to the Coffee Rules is available for
free to interested parties by calling 212-748-4090.
Australian Coffee Production to Grow, New Development Council Says
The
Queensland coffee growing industry is "leading the sector's charge to
become a formidable force in the worldwide production market," according
to a report in the Queensland Herald-Sun.
The
fledgling industry, established in northern New South Wales and far north
Queensland, hopes to "latch on to the growth in roasted and ground coffee
sales," the paper reported.
About
48,000 metric tons (800,000 60-kilogram bags) are imported to Australia each
year, according to the report. Only 500 metric tons (8,333 bags) are produced
domestically. A metric ton is 1000 kilograms.
The
Chairman of the new Australian Coffee Research and Development Advisory
Council, David Peasley, said there is enormous opportunity for domestic growers
to tap the coffee market, the report stated.
"There's
a major shortfall between what's imported and what we grow locally, and we can
fill some of that," Mr. Peasley said. "Our coffee is of an
international standard, we have the systems now in place to maintain standards,
and it is a matter of getting it out there for people to drink."
"What
we have to do is keep our standards up and keep the cowboys out of the
industry."
Retail prices (all sizes/per pound)
Ground roast
|
|
May
'03 |
April
'03 |
May
'02 |
April
'02 |
|
U.S. Avg |
2.937 |
3.008 |
3.011 |
2.976 |
|
Northeast |
3.290 |
3.466 |
3.432 |
3.471 |
|
Midwest |
2.696 |
2.683 |
2.529 |
2.509 |
|
South |
2.736 |
2.761 |
2.693 |
2.680 |
|
West |
3.047 |
3.201 |
3.705 |
3.698 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
The ICO composite average indicator prices
|
|
Colombian Mild Arabicas |
"Other Mild" Arabicas |
Brazilian & Other Arabicas |
Robustas |
Composite Price |
|
January |
69.68 |
65.22 |
49.14 |
42.75 |
54.04 |
|
February |
69.60 |
67.60 |
48.54 |
42.35 |
54.07 |
|
March |
61.82 |
61.66 |
43.77 |
38.26 |
49.61 |
|
April |
66.12 |
65.35 |
48.71 |
38.68 |
51.87 |
|
May |
67.56 |
66.47 |
51.06 |
38.90 |
53.19 |
|
June |
65.01 |
61.31 |
47.11 |
35.33 |
48.90 |