From the Field, News
Monday, November 1, 2021
China Harvest Update 2021
We have just completed our pre-harvest crop tour and production volume is estimated at 35% larger than last year’s with 43k MT expected, reports Carl Sara, Managing Director of Sucafina (Yunnan) Co., Ltd.
The 2020/2021 crop was one of the smallest on record, due to significant drought and several consecutive years of low prices (leading to lower inputs and investments from farmers). This year, good rains at exactly the right moments, as well as higher domestic prices over the past 2 seasons have combined to produce a much larger crop.
At the same time, expanding certifications and sustainability initiatives mean that more high-quality and certified coffees will be available this year. The Central Government has introduced several measures that have led to improvements at washing stations, especially in water usage. Additionally, a budding focus on producing high-quality Naturals is expanding the breadth of coffees available. “The challenge now will be manifesting an increased volume of Natural processing in a field where infrastructure and knowledge was built about Fully washing processing,” Carl explains.
Sucafina China continues to expand its operations in Yunnan. They are focused on growing sustainability certification options and building a state-of-the-art dry mill in Yunnan that will enable them to mill high-quality, traceable lots in their Kunming warehouse. This season, Sucafina will have its own certified RFA unit that will help market RFA-certified coffees to the global market. Sucafina will add value to the Yunnan coffee supply chain, and begin to realize the quality potential of Yunnan coffee at a critical time for the industry.
On the logistics side, China is still experiencing high demand and low availability for shipping containers and booking spaces, Carl says. However, they’re projecting that demand will reduce near the end of the year or beginning of the new year as manufacturing decreases, making space for more coffee shipments.
We expect new crop to begin shipping in April 2022 with fresh crop samples available from January 2022. Currently, type samples are available for select lots. Contact your trader for more information and to request samples when they become available.