STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 17 MEXICO Honoring Carl Leonard In January, Sanroke Group director Adrian Marenco hosted Leonard and his wife Lynn at the company's offices in Mexico. The Sanroke group, founded in 1925, is Mexico's coffee industry leader since 1974. The vertically integrated company operates coffee plantations, wet and dry coffee processing plants in the main coffee areas in Mexico, a factory for decaffeinated coffee and coffee roasting facilities. Marenco told Carl's wife, "Lynn you should be as proud of Carl as we are." Marenco explained that Sanroke's chairman of the board, Domingo Muguira, decided to establish recogni- tion for those people whose "commer- cial behavior has been outstanding for the well-being of the coffee industry and that had helped us grow and be better. That they had been fair, honest, and long-term partners," he said. - Dan Bolton MYANMAR GAP Certificates Issued Coffee farms in Myanmar are now being recognized for their agricultural efforts, according to a report by Myanmar Times. Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) certificates were issued to four state- owned coffee farms and two private businesses in Myanmar. This is the first time such certificates were issued in the country, and it represents progress in developing Myanmar's coffee export industry, according to Daw May Thet Hlaing, an officer from the Coffee Research, Information, Extension, and Training Center at Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay Region. NETHERLANDS Gender-in-Coffee Documentary The 64-minute documentary, "Gender in Coffee" follows the story of women and men of a coffee value chain, from Chiapas (Mexico) to Texas, and their thoughts on gender roles, masculinity, women's coffee, and many other relevant issues in the gender conversation. Filmmakers Xavier Hamon and Han- nah Stapleton decided to portray the human aspect of the coffee story and turned their lens to the topical issue of gender. Why in coffee? "Gender involves all of us, women, men, and other expressions of gender in this highly diverse, and colorful indus- try," writes Hamon. "The specialty coffee industry has an ambitious target: to become the first fully sustainable commodity on this planet by 2050. On the road to sustainability, gender equity is and will be a powerful way to engage the full human capacity to care about coffee and one another in our interna- tional value chains. Can we, in the coffee industry, change the status quo on gender inequality?" Learn more: www. genderincoffeedoc.com RWANDA Coffee, Tea on Exchange Coffee and tea soon will become traded products on the Easy Africa Commodi- ties Exchange (EAX). The exchange, which also trades soya, maize, and sorghum, provides a platform where farmers and brokers can follow current prices and execute trades. The addition of coffee and tea is expected to bring higher prices to Rwandan farmers. Farmers also will become eligible for bank loans because their harvests will be recorded and tracked as collateral. Coffee and tea are typically Rwanda's leading exports. The national Agriculture export Board reports annual coffee export revenues reached more than US$64 million in 2017, up from $58.5 million the year before. UGANDA New Coffee Law Passed New legislation designed to overhaul the coffee industry has passed the govern- ment's cabinet, according to a New Vision news report. The law also repeals the legal backbone of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority. The new National Coffee Bill is intended to create a "competitive, equitable and sustainable coffee industry by promoting coffee research, good coffee farming practices, domestic consumption of coffee, and adding value to coffee," a government spokesman reportedly said. The coffee authority reports that Uganda exports slightly more than 400,000 bags of beans a year. A new official goal has been set at a total of 20 million bags of green beans by the year 2020. "The bill will also provide for an authority to regulate all on-farm and off-farm activities in the coffee value chain," the spokesman said. UK Costa Coffee Goes It Alone Efforts are underway to separate the United Kingdom's largest coffee chain from the larger Whitbread, a company that owns a hotel chain and restaurant interests. The move, as reported by The Guardian, would take two years to complete. Alison Brittain, Whitbread's chief executive, confirmed the move and told The Guardian that the concept had been under consideration for several years. The decision was made, in part, because both companies had strong prospects for growth overseas. Costa Coffee has been operating in China for several years and Costa Express has installed more than 5,000 coffee vending machines worldwide. Whitbread, meanwhile, is expanding in Germany where it is projected to own 31 hotels in 15 cities by 2021. Scene from Gender in Coffee Costa operates 3,532 shops globally

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