Category Archives: Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg)

Growers to now sell coffee online

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg)

CoffeeKF07jul2013
The Coffee Board of India, an autonomous body under the commerce ministry, has signed an agreement with the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) to launch a warehouse receipt-based electronic spot market for coffee beans. This is a first-of-its-kind initiative by the Board to provide an opportunity for better price realisation and educate growers about quality assessment. Currently, Rs 2,000 crore worth of is traded in physical form at the farm gate. Agents of exporters collect the beans at estates and transport it for curing (drying and de-husking of coffee beans). Earlier, ABN Amro and ITC had tried to provide online trading platforms for coffee, which did not work well, said growers.

According to the agreement, NSEL will conduct online trading beans for both raw and cleaned coffee. It has tied up with companies for curing after the online transaction. NSEL has set up two warehouses at Kushalnagar in Kodagu district and Chikmagalur in Chikmagalur district for storing coffee on behalf of the growers.

“The aim of this partnership is to ensure that small and medium coffee growers get an opportunity to sell their coffee online. We will provide them quality assessment and grading facilities at their farm gate with the help of the Coffee Board. The growers are free to fix their own prices. There will be no fee for the growers for online trading. We will charge the buyers a small commission,” said an NSEL official.

The partnership between the Board and NSEL is also aimed at providing market linkages and relevant back-end infrastructure, education, training and technical advice to growers. The Coffee Board will carry a mobile laboratory to conduct the grading of coffee beans at the farm gate. The price will be discovered based on transparent electronic bidding. After the online trading is carried out, NSEL will deliver the beans at the doorstep of buyers or curing works through its transport network, the official added. The NSEL is also in the process of providing finance. Federal Bank, Standard Chartered and ICICI Bank, among others, have approached NSEL for providing finance on the warehouse receipts.

Ramesh Rajah, president of Coffee Exporters’ Association of India, said: “It is an excellent idea. The seller will know how much price he will get for his coffee. However, there are many glitches involved in online trading.” He said issues such as Rule 7B, VAT and transaction costs will have to be sorted. As the sale of cured coffee attracts taxation, growers will not come forward to sell through online platform. NSEL and the Board will have to sort out these issues, said Rajah.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Markets> Commodities> Food & Edible Oils / by BS Reporter / Bangalore – June 28th, 2013

Today is a special day for the Coffee Board of India

Coffee News, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg)

Monday is a special day: it marks the golden jubilee of the Coffee Board of India’s move to the building opposite Visveswaraya Towers on Vidhana Veedhi.

It was shifted on July 1, 1963 from Prithvi Buildings on Kempe Gowda Road. The board will hold the celebrations in October.

Autonomous body

The Coffee Board of India is an autonomous body set up under an Act of Parliament in 1942 and serving the coffee industry in the country. Its basic focus is on research, development, extension and quality upgrading in addition to consolidating market information and the domestic and external promotion of coffee.

In addition to encouraging consumption of the beverage in the country and abroad, the board also runs 12 India Coffee Houses, including the one on its premises and depots across the country.

According to A.N. Balaram, who was the secretary of the board when the new building was constructed, K. Srinivasan, who was chairperson of the board, was determined to make sure the board had a building to function from. He persuaded the then Chief Minister Kengal Hanumanthaiya to sanction land and succeeded in getting land from City Improvement Trust Board. Lal Bahadur Shastri, the then Union Minister for Commerce and Industries, laid the foundation stone for the building on February 21, 1959.

T.S. Narayana Rao was the chief architect of the building and Purushottam and Company executed the project. Approximately Rs. 35 lakh was spent on the construction. “Though the building was unofficially occupied on July 1, 1963, it was formally inaugurated by the then President S. Radhakrishnan on October 9, 1963,” he told The Hindu .

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Bangalore – July 01st, 2013

Coffee Board ties up with NSEL for electronic spot market for coffee beans

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Coffee News, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg)

CoffeeKF02jul2013
This is the first initiative taken by the Board to provide an opportunity for better price realisation

Coffee Board of India, an autonomous body under the ministry of commerce, has signed a memorandum of understanding with National Spot Exchange (NSEL) to launch a warehouse receipt based electronic spot market for coffee beans. This is the first of its kind initiative taken by the Board to provide an opportunity for better price realization and educate them about quality assessment.

Currently, over Rs 2,000 crore worth of coffee is traded in physical form at the farm gate level. Agents of exporters collect the beans at the estates and transport it for curing. Earlier, ABN AMRO and ITC had tried to provide online trading platforms for coffee, which did not work well, the coffee growers said.

As per the MoU, the NSEL will conduct online trading of coffee beans for both raw and cleaned coffee. It has tied up with coffee curing companies for curing of coffee post the online transaction. NSEL has set up two warehouses at Kushalnagar in Kodagu district and Chikmagalur in Chikmagalur district for storing coffee on behalf of the growers.

“The aim of this partnership is to ensure that small and medium coffee growers get an opportunity to sell their coffee online. We will provide them quality assessment and grading facilities at their farm gate with the help of Coffee Board. The growers are free to fix their own prices. There will be no fee to the growers for online trading. We will charge the buyers a small commission,” an official of NSEL said.

The partnership between Coffee Board and NSEL is also aimed at providing market linkages and relevant back-end infrastructure, education, training and technical advice to growers. The Coffee Board will carry a mobile laboratory to conduct the grading of coffee beans at the farm gate. The price will be discovered based on transparent electronic bidding. After the online trading is carried out, NSEL will deliver the beans at the doorstep of buyers or curing works through its transport network, he said.

The NSEL is also in the process of providing finance. Federal Bank, Standard Chartered and ICICI Bank among others have approached NSEL for providing finance on the warehouse receipts.

Ramesh Rajah, president, Coffee Exporters’ Association of India said, “It is an excellent idea. The seller will know how much price he will get for his coffee. However, there are many glitches involved in online trading.”

He said issues like Rule 7B, VAT and transaction costs would have to be sorted out properly. As the sale of cured coffee attracts taxation, the growers will not come forward to sell through online platform. The NSEL and Coffee Board will have to sort out these issues, he said.

NSEL has till now added 54 commodities on its online spot-trading platform.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies> News / by Mahesh Kulkarni / Bangalore – June 28th, 2013

Coffee Board of India Recruitment 2013 – Walk in for Sr Research Fellow Posts:

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg), Uncategorized

Coffee Board, Central Coffee Research Institute (CCRI) conducts walk in interview for the recruitment of Senior Research Fellow posts in DBT sponsored project. Eligible candidates can attend walk in interview on 24-06-2013 at 10.30 AM. More details regarding educational qualifications, age limit, selection and application process are mentioned below…

Coffee Board Vacancy details:

Name of the Post: Senior Research Fellow

Age Limit: Candidates upper age limit is 30 years as on 11-06-2013.

Educational Qualification: Candidates must possess M.Sc or M.Sc (Agriculture) in Biotechnology or related subject in biological sciences from a reputed University.

Selection Process: Candidates will be selected based on interview.

How to Apply: Interested candidates can attend walk in interview along with application, bio-data, copies of all required certificates and same in original, passport size photograph held at The Divisional Head, Plant Biotechnology Division, Unit of CCRI, Dr.S. Radhakrishnan Road, Manasagangothri, Mysore-570006 on 24-06-2013 at 10.30 AM.

Date & Time of Interview: 24-06-2013 at 10.30 AM

For more details regarding age, qualifications, pay scale, selections and other information contact the Coffee Board .

Tata Coffee scouts for European firms to expand instant coffee business

Coffee News, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg)

Tata Coffee, controlled by Tata Global Beverages, is looking for suitable companies in Europe to expand instant coffee business through inorganic route by the end of 2013.

Tata Coffee sells instant coffee as well as roasted and raw coffee beans in India, Russia, the US, Japan and Africa countries.

The company, which owns the Eight O’Clock coffee brand in the US, is looking to improve margins by pushing faster into instant coffee.

The move is in line with the company’s aim to emerge as a INR10bn ($171m) company by 2015.

Tata Coffee managing director Hameed Huq was quoted Business Standard as saying that the company has increased its instant coffee capacity by 33% to 8,500 tons with INR800m ($13.7m) at Theni in Tamil Nadu.

“We are now looking at further expansion through an acquisition, mainly in Europe, which is nearer to our customers,” Huq added.

“To achieve Rs 1,000 crore turnover it is essential for us to acquire a company in Europe and we have time till 2015 to achieve this target.”

At the same time, the Indian coffee giant mulls to invest INR4bn ($69m) to establish a greenfield instant coffee processing unit in Europe with a capacity of 4,500 tons.

source: http://www.processtechnology.drinks-business-review.com / DBR / DBR Home> Process Technology News / by DBR Staff Writer / June 18th, 2013

Coffee Board Announced Setting up Coffee Entrepreneurship Centre in Bangalore

Business & Economy, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg)

The Coffee Board announced establishing the Coffee Entrepreneurship Centre in Bangalore in order to sustain the coffee cafe culture in India. The Chairman of Coffee Board, Jawaid Akhtar explained that the idea came up because of rapid growth of coffee cafes as well as parlours in India, especially in the non-traditional (non-coffee growing States) areas. However, there is a dearth of manpower in these areas.

The primary objective of the Coffee Entrepreneurship Centre is to create the manpower base. This base would be created by facilitating training to people scientifically and providing them the knowledge about specialty coffees.

Also the objective is creation of the manpower in various levels of coffee business such as setting of roast and ground (R&G) outlets as well as coffee retailing. This will also assist the entrepreneurs in establishing as well as operating the cafes with the formal training.

In order to facilitate the educational support, the Coffee Board also roped in Indian Institute of Plantation Management (IIPM). The Coffee Entrepreneurship Centre is infact housed in the IIPM campus of Bangalore.

The Centre will provide lab-scale experience to people in making espresso coffee, traditional brewing, grinding coffee as well as roasting. The Board will make use of the faculty at IIPM in order to run the courses. At present, there are approximately 2200 coffee cafes in India which are operated by the big companies like Barista, Costa and Café Coffee Day.

The Coffee Entrepreneurship Centre will have one-month courses on How to start coffee businesses as well as How to make different coffees.

Coffee Board gave grant of 30 lakh Rupees in order to set up this centre.

source: http://www.jagranjosh.com / Jagran Josh / Home> English / June 13th, 2013

See 30% growth in arabica production this year: Tata Coffee

Agriculture, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg)

Hameed Huq of Tata Coffee told CNBC-TV18 that he expected an increase in their production of Arabica crop by 30 percent. However, he anticipated a flat growth in its Robusta crop.

Hameed Huq , Managing Director, Tata Coffee
Hameed Huq , Managing Director, Tata Coffee

Tata Coffee expects its Arabica crop production to increase 30 percent this year, while it aims to maintain Robusta production at last year’s levels in FY14.

Robusta variety of coffee accounts for 70 percent of the company’s total production, while Arabica accounts for 30 percent, Hameed Huq, managing director, told CNBC-TV18.

In company’s standalone accounts, 20 percent revenues are from plantations while 55-60 percent is from instant coffee production.

Since a majority of its revenues are from instant coffee production, Huq said that the fall in raw coffee prices would only benefit the company.

Also read: How industries fared in April 2013: CARE Research

Below is the edited transcript of his interview to CNBC-TV18.

Q: Reports indicate that coffee output in India could suffer due to inconsistent rains at the start of the year. Could you throw some light on the coffee output for the entire seasons? What will the prices be?

A: On coffee output, we harvest Arabica first and then go on to Robusta. We are looking at almost 30 percent increase in Arabica production over the previous year.

Last year, there was an acute drought across most of Karnataka which impacted the crop. We are not seeing that. On Robusta growth, we are looking at maintaining last year’s levels. We had a very large crop last year which again is reflective of the general industry.

The crop will not be lower next year. In fact, it definitely should be higher than harvest in the season that ended.

Q: You are dependent on 70 percent of your raw material needs on Robusta. Have the prospects for that improved with the rates?

A: I will cover that in two things. In Tata Coffee , 70 percent of our plantation is Robusta and 30 percent is Arabica. We had a very good Arabica crop last year. The Robusta prices have not slid as much as Arabica.

If you look at Tata Coffee’s standalone accounts, plantation coffee constitutes less that 20 percent of our turnover. Over 56-60 percent of our turnover actually comes from instant coffee.

To that extent, whether coffee prices are moving slightly, easing up, doesn’t really impact Tata Coffee anymore because it is not totally a coffee plantation company.

However, overall also the coffee plantation is doing well, but there has been easing of prices.
Q: What is the percentage of your expenses accounted by raw materials?

A: If you look at our consolidated accounts, 83-85 percent of our turnover is based on green coffee being purchased out.

If there is any easing in prices, it adds to the business and its margins. Within the space of instant coffee, anything between 65-70 percent cost is related to green coffee.

So, when you see this easing of prices, generally it is favourable to Tata Coffee, not the other way round.

Q: You closed FY13 with a margin improvement due to benign raw material prices. How are you expecting margins to pan out in FY14? Can we expect some further improvement? Any guidance or target that you could help us with?

A: We don’t give guidance. But if you look at the basic fundamentals, we are largely driven on two of our major businesses by green coffee prices. Both of them have softened.

We have just commissioned an expansion program at Theni where our instant coffee plant exists and the capacity is going up by 30 percent. The plantation has gone on stream for the same.

source: http://www.moneycontrol.com / Moneycontrol> News> Business / CNBC TV18 / June 10th, 2013

Think twice before using fertilisers, farmers told

Agriculture, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg)

Coffee planters should think twice before using chemical fertilisers and pesticides. More emphasis has been given to environment and bio-diversity in the international market, said NABARD General Manager C P Appanna.

He was speaking after inaugurating a workshop on ‘Quality improvement, value addition and importance of butterfly rearing in coffee production’, organised jointly by Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Oslo, Agricultural University, Bangalore , Kodagu Krishi Vijnanigala Vedike, Swastha organisation and Chai Kadai, Bangalore in Madikeri recently.

“We have been growing coffee in a conducive environment in Kodagu. However, coffee from Kodagu is not getting good price in the international market. At the same time, we must get certified from an international agency on the quality of the product, to get better price for coffee,” he said.

Test

“By rearing butterflies, we need to establish the fact that no environment hazard activities have been carried out in the coffee estates. Many western countries refused to import agriculture products from India, owing to chemical content found in it,” he added.
He gave a clarion call to the farmers to adopt organic farming.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / Madikeri,DHNS – June 06th, 2013

Indian robusta bowls over Boston roasters

Coffee News, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg)

Bangalore :

Indian robusta coffees have been received well at the Specialty Coffee Association of America meet held recently at Boston, US.

“With Boston being in close proximity to major coffee roasters in the US, the event was attended by a sizeable crowd,” Jawaid Akhtar, Chairman, Coffee Board told Business Line.

“Robustas are generally known to be harsh, but when American roasters tested our coffees, they were amazed to discover the mildness and aroma of Indian coffees,” he said.

The Coffee Board had taken up space at the specialty coffee association and visitors tasted liquid coffee, instead of coffee samples from different regions.

At the event, a session on “Emerging Markets in Specialty Coffee: India” was also held to educate the US roasters. The one-hour session mainly focused on why specialty coffee needs Indian robustas. The session was attended by about 70 roasters from the North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Sunalini Menon, CEO, Coffeelab Ltd, talked about the distinct characteristics of Indian coffee and coffee growers’ representative Nishant Gurjer, Partner, Kaapi Royale Coffee, and Chairman of Karnataka Planters’ Association (KPA), spoke about the farm practices of cultivating coffee in India. The moderator of the event was Andrew Hetzel, consultant, CafeMakers.

The Indian delegation had, besides the Coffee Board Chairman and the KPA Chairman, quality control expert Sunalini Menon, M.P. Devaiah of Allana Sons, Bharat Mandanna of BBTC, Jacob Mammen of Bhadra Group, Kurien who was representing Small Coffee Growers Association, Kerala, and US coffee trader Joseph John.

For the last three to four years, the Coffee Board has been focussing on the US market. “Roasters in US are increasingly using robustas in their blends, it is here we are focusing our attention to penetrate the most important market in the world,” said Gurjer.

Creating awareness of the Indian coffee in the US has led to gaining some ground in the market. Indian coffee exports to US are currently averaging at around 6,000 tonnes and is the 14th important market. Exports have doubled in the last five years. In 2008-09 exports stood at 2,556 tonnes.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Industry> Agri-Biz / by Anil Urs anil.u@thehindu.co.in / Bangalore, May 21st, 2013

Brewed on this

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Coffee, Kodagu (Coorg)

The Kapi Trail, a joint effort by the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), Thomas Cook, Karnataka Ministry of Tourism and Coffee Board of India, is a unique tourism experience that allows travellers to experience coffee plantations of the South, in a different way.

Caffeine kick

“Our idea was to use the flavours of coffee and the whole coffee tourism experience as a trigger point to encourage people to explore South India,” says Rene Baumann, vice president, BIAL. “And since the airport brings in people from all over the world. This initiative would spotlight south India in a different way,” Baumann explains.

The big picture

The trail offers packages that cover Bangalore, Mysore, Coorg and Chickamagalur. One can learn about the history of coffee and the processing of the bean; engage with the local culture, traditions and cuisine or stay in ancestral homes and plantations. For the sporty holiday maker, there are scenic mountain treks and cycling tours.

Culture vultures can opt for heritage walks with visits to ancient temples and palaces – the 18 m tall Gomateswara statue, the largest monolithic in Asia at Sravanbelgola, to the only Hoysala temple still active at Belur. Wild life buffs are definitely spoiled for choice. They can get a taste of the wilderness via jeep safaris or visit The Tholpetty and Bhadra sanctuaries in the region. The Tholpetty forest, part of the Nagarhole wildlife sanctuary, is also a tiger reserve. One can go on a guided forest trek or understand where your bean really comes from, with a visit to a plantation pulp house and drying yard.

The Namdroling monastery in Bylakuppe, Coorg and the coffee museum in Chickmangalur are also worth a visit.

Packages start at `26,400 upwards.

Details: bangaloreairport.com; kaapi.trail@in.thomascook.com

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express Features – Hyderabad / May 02nd, 2013