International Coffee Day Message
International Coffee Day 2020 is celebrated on the 1st of October annually. It observes and recognizes the impact of coffee on over 25 million farmers globally, whose livelihood depends on the aromatic crop. International Coffee Day provides an opportunity for all coffee lovers to share their love for the beverage. The first official date agreed by the International Coffee Organization was October 1st, 2015, launched in Milan.
The Jamaica Coffee Exporter Association, our over 5000 farmers and over 100, 000 coffee farmer families join the rest of the world in saluting our families and stakeholders in the industry.
We celebrate this year’s International Coffee Day during a global pandemic, covid- 19, which has impacted the Jamaican Coffee Industry significantly. Unfortunately, while we celebrate our industry, we are facing an urgent situation as the industry now and urgently needs the support of the government in order to survive these challenges. The total coffee production for the 19/20 crop was 268,000 boxes or 2.7m lbs which was a 240,000 increase over the 220,000 boxes produced in the 18/19 crop year. The industry has suffered from the fall out of the tourism sector due to a 90% reduction in the roasted coffee sales due to the closure or reduced activities of hotels, gift shop and restaurants. This has caused a current build- up of approximately 600,000 lbs of Jamaican Coffee. There is also an urgent need to support the farmers with input, hence the JCEA recommendation for a $200m input programme for our 5,000 coffee farmers. Not withstanding these challenges, we are determined to continue our efforts to ensure the survival of our industry through this period and the continued building of a foundation for success in the future as we present the finest Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, to consumers globally and primarily in our major markets in Japan, United States of America, Europe and China.