WHAT'S NEW? By Sovrana Trading Corporation
August 1, 1999
November 16, 1998
September 29, 1998
The seminar will be held at 2:00 PM on Thursday, October 15, 1998 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, 1401 South Oak Knoll Avenue, Pasadena, California. Admission to the seminar, which is expected to last approximately 2 to 3 hours, is free of charge, but seats are limited and available only to professionals. The seminar will include both lecture (utilizing slides and overheads) and hands-on training on espresso machine and grinder. In addition to coffee, juice and snacks will be available to attendees.
If you are a professional involved in the coffee business and wish to attend such seminar, please request an invitation by calling Sovrana Trading at (310) 323-3357 during business hours (M-F 8:30A - 4:30P).
November 1, 1997
October 1, 1997
By Alberto Lavazza - From "Notizie Lavazza", September 1997
The risk of frost in the South American plantations, always a worry during winter in the southern hemisphere, is now a thing of the past for this year: the continuing high pressure over Brazil protected the coffee-growing areas against cold air coming up from the Atlantic. Each year, in June and July, we anxiously follow the weather conditions in Brazil, as frost can always have disastrous effects on the world green coffee market. And this year more than ever, it was crucial that the weather remain mild, because to bring world coffee stocks back up to normal levels and steady the market the world's biggest producer must achieve a good harvest.
In the first half of 1997, the marker was very volatile: compared to the end of 1996, the price of Arabicas in New York increased three-fold, then suddenly halved. An unheard-of about turn, even for a commodity subjected to severe speculation. For two reasons: physical demand and supply of coffee are pretty well matched, while stocks in consumer countries have been reduced to an all-rime low; plus, the injection of immense sums of speculation capital, far greater than the marker could handle while remaining relatively stable.
Though less affected, Robusta coffee prices underwent a similar trend, particularly the price increase: this meant that the price differential between Arabica and Robusta widened dramatically.
The beneficial effects of prices that are remunerative for producers are now starting to be felt, as new areas are planted with coffee and, above all, the productivity of existing plantations increases. This, year's Brazilian harvest seems to be almost up to last year’s volumes, while forecasts for 1998 are very promising indeed, provided that the weather over the next six to nine months does not complicate the picture. The quality of this year's harvest is still somewhat uncertain, as it may have been affected by the rain. Colombia appears to have overcome thc crisis it was going through earlier this year, and production is settling down again. The harvests in Central America appear to be of good quality, and volumes are probably slightly better than last year.
In general terms, the Robusta situation is reassuring, even though thc price differential between the two species has increased demand, and locally there arc difficulties over supply or availability. The Indonesian harvest, for example, is much lower than last year, and the availability is made worse by the reluctance of producers to follow the trend toward lower prices.
World coffee consumption has suffered from the high price of raw materials and is tending to shrink, both in industrialized countries and in those with weaker economies. It is to be hoped that, by the end of this year, the partial recovery of international prices that we have seen over the last two months will limit the drop in consumption, or even restore it to previous levels. World production of coffee should be sufficient to meet demand f»r the next two to three years, as well as to increase stocks in producer and consumer countries. According to a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit, world exportable production will be about 80 million sacks in 1988/9, against 74.1 in 1996/7 and 78.4 in 1997/8.
In this scenario, provided there are no further attacks by speculators, the market should regain a measure of stability: this is what we hope for 1997 and the years to come. By Alberto Lavazza
August 26, 1997
August 1, 1997
March 1, 1997
February 24, 1997
3 October 1996
30 September 1996
5 August 1996
5 August 1996
5 August 1996
7 June 1996
4 June 1996
18 May 1996
10 May 1996
April 1996