STiR coffee and tea magazine

18 STiR coffee and tea | 2024 Issue 6 (December / January 2025) L By Emily McIntyre Good Growth: Coffee Supply Chain Dependencies ayered within the coffee supply chain, like flavor ribbons in a cake, are dependencies that have outsized impact on the entire trade, from seed to cup and spanning an estimated $223.78 billion of market share. In this way, when a butterfly flaps its wings on a coffee farm in Colombia, its final impact could be a coffee shop going out of business in Duluth, Min- nesota, in the heart of the United States. While this metaphor (The Butterfly Effect) was originally created by a meteorologist, Edward Lorenz, to describe the interconnectivity of the weather and thus its ultimate unpredictability, it's apt for this industry. When we look at Good Growth in the context of the coffee industry, this is one of the basic aspects of which we must increase our awareness. How can we properly weigh the impact of our actions if we aren't aware of how it can impact others, especially those we don't see? This is an aspect of the moral responsibility business operators, analysts, employees, and customers assume when considering the quality of the long- term industry. While the interdependencies between coffee stakeholders are vast, complex, and impossible to fully define, there are a few which are inter- esting to examine. Production Inputs Impact Coffee Prices for Consumers When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and set into motion a wide range of sanctions and trade barriers, a ripple effect went into play around fertilizer, which is a major agricultural input for coffee producers around the world and of which Russia was a key supplier. Consider Brazil, which is the top exporter of coffee globally, exporting more than $7 billion in coffee in 2023. Brazilian producers rely heavily upon fertilizers including nitrogen and potassium to boost production and profitability. Examining the vast and complex interdependencies between coffee stakeholders helps improve understanding of the long-term industry. A drought in Brazil or flood in Vietnam can create ripples in the global coffee supply chain that end up affecting businesses halfway around the world.

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