The Mighty Coffee

In the book that sits on my lap, the author claims that,

Coffee is second only to oil in terms of dollars traded worldwide.

While this isn’t likely to be true, it does make a point; coffee is big business to many countries. The countries that produce most of the world coffee (70%) are largely Central and South American. Asia an Africa produce 20% of the worlds coffee beans and the rest comes from places classed as “Coffee producing islands”.

South and Central America

Ol’ Blue eyes wasn’t just singing sweet Dixie when he estimated Brazil’s beans to be in the billions. Brazil is the biggest grower of coffee beans in the world, and by a long margin. Its arabica beans are of a high quality and are a component in many commercial and boutique blends.  Brazil also produces a vast quantity of robusta beans, coming in second after Indonesia. Ipanema Argo Industria is Brazil’s chief producer as far as corporations go, coming in coffee production in Brazil and the rest of the world. Their fields cover some 12,350 acres with 12.5 million trees planted. This company produces almost 7 million kilograms of green coffee anually, twice that of Hawaii and Jamaica combined.

Following Brazil, the next most prolific coffee producers are Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador, which supply mostly washed arabicas. Coffee production also plays a strategic role in the economy of Mexico, Panama and the islands of the Caribbean. Their coffees, also washed arabicas are generally very high quality.

Asia and Africa

India, New Guinea and Indonesia have adopted modern growing methods over the years, thereby increasing their supply of washed arabicas, as well as washed and natural robustas, which are then sold on world markets.

African nations, with some of the vastest and hottest tropical areas in the world produce robusta beans as well as arabicas, though the robusta accounts for the bulk of their coffee export. In the higher altitudes of Kenya and Tanzania, arabica coffee grows very well, yielding large quantities of washed beans.

Coffee Producing Islands

“Other Islands” is a catch-all coffee trade phrase that encompasses Hawaii, Jamaica, Puetro Rico and the Galapagos Islands. Coffees growin in these regions are mostly mild, neutral without much acidity. These producers dont contribute quantum export quantities on world markets as most of their produce is consumed by the locals! Most of the profit of these crops comes from tourists.

Tags: Coffee, Coloumbia, Peru

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