STiR coffee and tea magazine

6 STiR coffee and tea | 2024 Issue 1 (February / March) Guest Editor Dan Bolton editor@coffeetea.media Sales Director Emerson Leonard edl@octobermultimedia.com Art Director Somjet Thitasomboon snt@octobermultimedia.com Tea Correspondent Dan Bolton tea@coffeetea.media Special Correspondent Mainbayer Badarch (Mongolia) Judith Ganes (Panama) Contributing Writers Aravinda Anantharaman (India) Eugene Gerden (Georgia) Mariana Proença (Brazil) Renata Silva (Brazil) Administrative Assistant Sommai Jekaram asj@octobermultimedia.com Subscriptions Malisa Kongkatitum malisa@stir-tea-coffee.com Director, October Inter Co., Ltd. Boonthin Tubsongkroh brt@octobermultimedia.com Founding Editor & Publisher Glenn Anthony John glenn@coffeetea.media c/o October Inter Co. Ltd. 159/19 Soi Ramkhamhaeng 110, Saphan Sung, Bangkok 10240 THAILAND. Tel: +66818299409. www.stir-tea-coffee.com Published by A Member of In This Issue C Subscribe to STiR Coffee and Tea Magazine 1 Year – US$75.00 2 Years – US$145.00 3 Years – US$210.00 For inquiries, contact: malisa@stir-tea-coffee.com Secure online payment: https://www.stir-tea-coffee.com/subscribe Resolve offee and tea industry stakeholders are approaching 2024 with resolve. The outlook is good. Consumption is increasing, inflation is waning, and coffee retail is ex- panding as commerce returns to pre-pandemic norms. Forecasters anticipate an unusually productive "off-biennial" year with a harvest expected to exceed 170 million 60-kilo sacks (See page 10). India was among the first regions outside Africa to grow coffee commercially in 1670 when a handful of beans smuggled from Yemen took root in the Chandragiri hills of Karnataka. Growth was uneven over the decades, plunging to record lows as recently as 2018, but India has since found its footing with two consecutive years of record exports valued at more than $1 billion. (See The Promising Future of Indian Coffee, page 8, and Indian Coffee Commu- nity Bounces Back, page 34) for an in-depth report by Aravinda Anantharaman in Bengaluru. Retail giant McDonald's appears to have caught the wave of emerging Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers, launching a drive-thru concept called CosMc's in direct competition with Starbucks. In the US, beverage sales at drive-thru locations account for most of the revenue in a specialty beverage and retail category that has grown to $100 billion in annual sales. Look for innovative tea and coffee offerings at the "interstellar" themed locations now under construction in Texas and Chicago, Illinois. (See page 22). Russia's coffee wholesalers and retailers also have experienced dramatic swings. Reporter Eugene Gerden traces the rapid exit of Western suppliers following the February 2022 inva- sion of Ukraine. He writes, "Overall, the Russian coffee and tea market has significantly suffered from the reduction of range caused by the exodus of many Western players." Sanctions led to the seizure and rebranding of many European tea and coffee manufacturers, including Nes- presso, Starbucks, Lavazza, and JDE Peet's. Tea fared somewhat better with local suppliers expanding production, in some instances after token payments to foreign factory owners that could be reversed if sanctions are lifted. (See page 14), The highest praise for authentic products is not wholesale theft. Geographical Indications were invented more than a century ago to protect and preserve the unique combinations of crops and climate and human ingenuity that underpins the coffee and tea industry worldwide. In this issue, Brazilian-based writers Renata Silva and Mariana Proença explain how GI designations preserve the heritage, quality, and sustainability of locally grown coffee. (See page 31), Finance and trade are intertwined, and each is undergoing dramatic change. Financial ex- pert Judith Ganes describes the Crucial Role of Commodity Trade Financing (See page 24) and offers revealing insights into why some of the largest and most successful banks are reducing their exposure in the sector. Volatility is one of the concerns bankers cite, pointing to unprecedented logistical challenges. In the feature Logistics Realignment, part one, I describe how the monumental upheaval caused by COVID-19 has led to the development of a new deep-water mega-port in Peru, trans-national rail service in Africa and plans in Colombia to bypass the Panama Canal with inter-modal rail service from Buenaventura on the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Mexico (See page 28) Dan Bolton

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