Let’s celebrate International Coffee Day
ON OCTOBER 1, 2022, our 5,000 coffee farmers and several thousand members of the coffee farm families join the Global Coffee Industry of over 12 ½ million coffee farmers in the celebration of International Coffee Day, which takes place annually on this day. Making the daily journey from our coffee field, factory and roaster to the breakfast mugs of households all over the world, coffee beans have been scattered all over the world for more than 600 years and their preparation for consuming is a great example of metamorphosis.
As one of the first coffees in the world to be designated as a specialty coffee, Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee has a rich legacy, pleasing the palates of sophisticated coffee consumers across the world. As we see increasing global demand for high-quality specialty coffee, we are placing focus as an industry on continually improving our productivity and quality, and expanding our Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee presence in international markets. To this end, we engaged a global market study funded by Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), managed by JAMPRO and supported by both JCEA and JACRA. The market study is aimed at developing strategies to expand the Blue Mountain and High Mountain coffee brands in the specialty food segment in the global marketplace.
The JCEA is also working with JACRA to get support from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and, by extension, the Government, to boost the coffee industry. This will be in the form of farmer support for a coffee planting and redevelopment programme valuing J$1 billion, over a five-year period. This is aimed at increasing our current level of production from 270,000 boxes to 450,000 boxes over the period and increase productivity from 30 boxes per acre to 60 boxes per acre.
This effort should increase annual revenues from the Jamaican coffee industry from our weighted average of US$25 million over the past 10 years to US$50 million in the next five years and US$100 in 10 years. This will significantly impact our 5,000 farmers and several thousand members of the coffee farm families that benefit from the Blue Mountain and High Mountain coffee industries.
The JCEA and our embassy in Japan under the leadership of Ambassador Richards are excited by the partnership with the Association of Japanese Importers of Jamaican Coffee (AJIJC) for their continued strong support as the largest buyer of our Jamaica coffee in Japan, with exports of over US$12M for 2021, representing 70 per cent of our exports, with 20 per cent to the USA and 10 per cent to Europe, China and the rest of the world.
Based on data from the International Coffee Organization in 2021, the world consumption of coffee fell by 3.1 per cent in 2020 with a global production of 172 million bags in 2021 while Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee production grew by over 15 per cent over 2020 to record just over 17,000 bags. The JCEA is excited about the opportunities that this presents, and will be working with the Ministry of Agriculture, JACRA, our coffee farmers and JAMPRO to execute the various initiatives to drive the sustainable growth and development of the Jamaica Coffee Industry.
So as the Jamaica Coffee Industry and our farmers, we join the Global coffee in another celebration of International Coffee Day 2022.
From in the Jamaica Blue Mountain range, we say get your Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee and let’s celebrate International Coffee Day today and join us January 9, 2023, for Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Day.
Yours faithfully,