Coffee board seeks talks with DTI on imports issue

The Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI) is seeking an audience with Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez to discuss concerns of local coffee roasters, particularly the growing competition with imported brands.

PCBI founding trustee Guillermo Luz said Filipino consumption of coffee – be it roast, ground, instant or specialty – has been rising significantly year after year.

“We are now at 170,000 metric tons (MT) per year. When we founded the board in 2002, our production was at a low of 22,000 MT and consumption then was 75,000 MT,” Luz said.

The rising consumption, however, has brought the industry to a challenge of importation from Vietnam and Indonesia, regional neighbors which are second and fourth in production globally, the PCBI said.

“The Indonesians are offering commercial and specialty coffee to our roasters,” PCBI chair Nicholas Matti said.

Matti called on the biggest roasters in the country such as Gourmets café, Kickstart coffee, UCC, Siete Baracos, and Culinary Exchange to consolidate their efforts to keep coffee prices stable in supermarkets and groceries.

Michael Asuncion of Kickstart Coffee, which supplies coffee to 150 supermarkets nationwide, has sought the help of PCBI in reaching out to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) “so the vendors do not squeeze us further in pricing.”

PCBI said the roasters agreed to form a coalition to be represented in the Consumer Affairs section of DTI.

According to PCBI, Robusta and Arabica prices are rising but roasted coffee has been kept low due to pressure from supermarkets and groceries.

“In some supermarkets, they are beside each other and the price differential is very small. There is a need to help promote local roasters rather than imported brands,” the group said.

“Can you imagine local roasters giving up? That would mean disaster for the consumers who have now taken to brewed coffee as a replacement for soluble coffee – a segment that continues to grow at 20 percent annually,” PCBI added.

PCBI, however, pointed out that imports would remain at a steady volume of 100,000 MT to 135,000 MT annually in the coming years.

It said this would cost the country about P7 billion “which could very well go to Filipino farmers.”

“But at the rate we drink coffee, it may take more than 20 years to address the gap, a problem we hope the government will seriously look into,” the PCBI said.