STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 17 and four generations. I warmly invite the coffee industry to be part of the Probat 150th anniversary festivities." The symposium, titled Connecting Markets, is scheduled for Sept. 19-20 at Probat headquarters in Emmerich, Germany. Learn more: www.probat150.com INDIA Exports from India Rise India's coffee exports jumped 17% during 2017, according to numbers released by the Coffee Board of India. Ramesh Rajah, president of the Coffee Exporters Association of India, said the increase was due in large part to a significant boost in robusta production and exports. India is the third-largest producer and exporter of coffee in Asia with major markets in Italy, Germany, and Russia. Total exports reached $958 million during the year, up from $818 million in 2016, but re-exports dropped to 64,888 metric tons in 2017 after reporting 79,034 tons in 2016. RWANDA Coffee Quality, Quantity Rises Rwanda appears on track achieving its 2018 coffee production and earnings targets after the government reported progress on the crop's performance for the first nine months of 2017. The National Agricultural Export Board (NAEB) says in its nine-month cumulative report through September 2017 that the country earned an average of $40.7 million for the period, up from the $36.1 million Rwanda earned during the same period in 2016. NAEB attributes the increased earnings to a slightly larger quantity of 12.3 million kilos sold in 2017, compared to the 12 million kilos the year before. The price the Rwandese coffee attracted for the January to September period was also good, marked at $3.30/ kg and up from $3.05/kg earned for the first nine months of 2016. Rwanda earned $24.8 million during the first quarter of the 2017/2018 crop season, which started in July 2017. That is an increase over the $20.7 million the country earned in the same quarter of 2016-17. This surpassed an earlier projection by the board of $22.28 million. NAEB attributes the increased earnings for the quarter to higher volumes sold at 6.4 million kilos (m.kg) up 5.9 m.kg for the similar quarter in 2016-17. However, the board says the $9.7 million in revenues earned for September 2017 alone showed a slight drop from the $10 million earned in September 2016. This is possibly due to the decline in the volumes sold in the month. The 2.4 m.kg sold in 2017 fell behind the 2.7 m.kg sold during the corresponding month of 2016. - By Shem Oirere production in the marketing year 2017/2018 due to harvests from new maturing plantations." Coffee exports are expected to remain flat during the period, however, "leading to a modest increase in ending stocks." UCDA continues to implement a Ugandan government-sponsored program to increase yields through increased adoption of improved varieties and expansion of planted area, the report stated. Since 2012, UCDA has worked with farmers and farmers' organizations to improve not only the acreage under coffee but also the quality of the crop produced. This is accomplished with the introduction and distribution of better yielding varieties, improving the farm input supply chain and via government-sponsored coffee farming extension services. UCDA programs increased produc- tion and exports, according to the 2017 annual report that excludes December. Uganda's November coffee exports increased to 443,100 60-kg bags valued at $49.4 million. The exports consisted of 310,759 bags of robusta coffee valued at $33.1 million and 132,341 bags of arabica coffee valued at $16.3 million. Uganda's 12-month coffee exports (Dec. 2016-Nov. 2017) rose to 4.8 million bags valued at $563 million, up from the 3.5 million bags worth $353 million during the same period last year. - Shem Oirere UK Buses Powered by Grounds Shell and UK-based bio-bean have found a way to use coffee grounds waste to help power London's famed double- decker buses. The special project, unveiled in late November, brought together a biofuel company that already found success with its Coffee Logs for home use and an international energy company best known for fossil fuel. Also participating in the project was fuel blender Argent Energy. The result was "B20" biofuel blend that was added to the London bus fuel supply chain. It powered buses without requiring modifications to the vehicles. Biofuel delivers a cleaner, more sustain- able energy solution for the bus system by decreasing overall emissions, according to bio-bean. SWEDEN Löfbergs Climate Goals Löfbergs roasteries intends to reduce its climate impact 40% by 2020. By blending its liquid petroleum gas (LPG) with bio LPG, the company's roasters already are operating cleaner. To reach the 40% goal, based on a 2005 emissions benchmark, Löfbergs needed to find a greener fuel alternative. The solution was Bio LPG provided by Kosan Gas, a leading provider of LPG to Nordic countries. Bio LPG is extracted from sustainable raw materials such as vegetable oils and animal fats when producing biodiesel. "By blending in 20% Bio LPG, our carbon emissions during roasting will be reduced 19%, which leads to us reaching our overall goal," said Eva Eriksson, Löfbergs's sustainability director. Löfbergs, based in Sweden, is one of the largest family-owned coffee roasters in the Nordic countries with roasteries in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Latvia. UGANDA Performance to Improve Uganda's coffee production will increase, even if only modestly, in the coming months as additional maturing plantations come online, according to a report by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agriculture Service and the Uganda Coffee Develop- ment Authority (UCDA)'s annual report for 2017. USDA's report predicts a "modest increase in Uganda's coffee

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