Every Friday, Perfect Daily Grind rounds up the top coffee industry news from the previous week. Here are this week’s stories. 

Mon, 2 May

• Union Hand Roasted Coffee becomes B Corp. The UK roaster received 106.3 points out of a possible 200 for several of its business practices, including a direct trade model and environmentally-friendly initiatives.

Tue, 3 May

Wed, 4 May

• SCA Italy elects new committee. New members include National Coordinator Davide Cobelli, Community Coordinator Stefania Zecchi, and Events Coordinator Alessandro Coda.

• Heifer International and Lutheran World Relief launch sustainable platform State of the Smallholder Coffee Farmer. The open-access resource provides data on the economic, social, and environmental situations of coffee farmers and their households. Developed in partnership with the Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC) at the University of Vermont and Statistics for Sustainable Development (Stats4SD), the platform aims to present a more realistic representation of the livelihoods of coffee-growing communities and make this data more accessible to coffee producers.

• Oatly reports 18.6% revenue increase on 2021 first quarter. The company stated its global 2022 first quarter revenue reached US $166.2 million, compared to US $140.1 million in the same period last year. Oatly claims strict lockdown measures in China have negatively affected revenue growth, as well as supply chain disruptions.

• Visitor registration opens for World of Coffee Milan 2022. The event will take place from 23 to 25 June and will include five 2022 World Coffee Championships: Latte Art Championship, Coffee in Good Spirits Championship, Cup Tasters Championship, Roasting Championship, and Cezve/Ibrik Championship. Submissions for the Coffee Design and Best New Product Awards are also open.

Thu, 5 May

• Starbucks brings back Coffee Master programme. The training programme was launched in the early 2000s in North America. Starbucks employees who pass the course wear black aprons (instead of green) and have the opportunity to visit the company’s coffee farm in Costa Rica.

• International Coffee Organisation predicts global coffee consumption to grow by 3.3% in 2022. The ICO estimates 170.3 million 60kgs bags will be consumed this year, compared to 164.9 million bags in 2020/21. According to the ICO, consumption is expected to exceed production in 2021/22 by 3.1 million bags. The ICO also stated that coffee prices for all groups increased in March and fluctuated throughout April, averaging between US 186.85 cents and 202 cents/lb.

• Paulig Group sells operations in Russia. In March, the food and beverage company announced it would cease operating in Russia because of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Paulig completed the sales of its operations in Russia to investor Vikas Soi for an undisclosed amount.

• Colombian coffee production falls 7% in April. Around 750,000 60kg bags were produced last month, compared to 810,000 bags produced in April 2021. So far this year, Colombia’s production has reached 3.5 million bags – a 15% decrease on the same period in 2021.

• Cup of Excellence announces new auction dates. The auction dates announced include:
  • July: CoE Mexico on 14th, CoE Guatemala on 19th, and CoE El Salvador on 21st.
  • August: CoE Nicaragua on 4th, CoE Costa Rica on 11th, and CoE Honduras on 16th.

Fri, 6 May

• Probat releases new Neptune 1000 drum roaster. The new 110kg to 220kg-capacity roaster (242lb to 485lb) includes a built-in air recirculation system. Probat will digitally launch the Neptune 1000 roaster on 18 May at 14:00 CEST.

Here are a few news stories from previous weeks that you might find interesting. Take a look.

• Sat, 30 Apr – Lavazza launches organic RTD cold brew. The new 100% arabica RTD beverages are available as Classic Cold Brew, Nitro Cold Brew, Cappuccino Cold Brew with Milk, and Double Shot Cold Brew with Oat Milk.

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Photo credits: Julio Guevara