Last April, much of the discussion - at Expo and Re:co Symposium - was centered on the Coffee Price Crisis and the future of specialty. In a special episode to kick off the new year, we’re releasing a two-part lecture on the C market that sought to provide clarity and actionable data for the specialty industry. 

Over the past few years, many began to question coffee’s ability to provide a sustainable household income to smallholder producers. Although there’s still much to learn about the full cost of producing specialty coffee around the world, a widely-acknowledged hypothetical benchmark of US$1.40 per pound demonstrates how current levels of productivity and market pressures continue to fail smallholder producers. Throughout all of 2018 and 2019, the C market, the main price discovery mechanism and clearing house for coffee, has been below this hypothetical price of US$1.40. As a result, our industry has been questioning the value and existence of the C market as well as expressing concern over the multi-dimensional costs to producers, countries, and the environment. 

Special Thanks to Softengine Coffee One, Powered by SAP 

This episode of the Expo 2019 Lectures podcast is supported by Softengine Coffee One, Powered by SAP.  Built upon SAP's business-leading Enterprise Resource Planning solution, Softengine Coffee One is designed specifically to quickly and easily take your small-to-medium coffee company working at any point along the coffee chain to the next level of success. Learn more about Softengine Coffee One at softengine.com, with special pricing available for SCA Members. Softengine: the most intelligent way to grow your business.

Related Links 

• Read a full transcript of this episode, including an English translation of the Spanish discussion, on SCA News 
• Listen to other episodes of the SCA Podcast 
• Learn more about the upcoming 2020 Lecture Series at the Specialty Coffee Expo 
• Listen to Part 2 of A Two Part Arc About the C Market and the Future of Specialty 
• Learn more about the coffee price crisis

Episode Table of Contents: Part 1

0:00 Introduction
2:30 Colleen Anunu introducing the speakers, anti-trust considerations and the issue of low prices for coffee producers
10:30 Ed Canty on how specialty coffee buyers can support producers with contractual floor prices while offsetting risks with futures and options contracts
28:15 Rene Leon Gomez of Promecafe on the human and environmental costs of low prices in ten coffee producing countries
43:45 Juan Esteban Orduz of the Colombian Coffee Federation on the World Producer Forum, its mission and its role on the international scene and the relationship between costs and low prices for World Coffee Producer Forum members
1:06:15 Outro