The second National Coffee Cupping Competition facilitated by the Coffee Industry Corporation in September 2015 has created a new market opportunity for a number of coastal coffee cooperative groups.
A total of 88 green bean bags of Arabica coffee and 77 bags of Robusta coffee from the competition were sold out to Coffee Plant Korea. The company paid a premium price for the coffees offered after the competition, hence relieving most coastal groups who entered the competition.
According to CIC records, 62 groups from the coast participated this year compared to only 43 from the Highlands. The majority of the coastal were from Morobe Province, East Sepik trailing just behind Morobe while the rest were from Madang, Milne Bay and Northern provinces.
Neknasi, Ke-Rural, Dawaya, Debz and Skainihawa coffee cooperatives, all from Morobe Province, are some of the groups that had their coffees score above 83 points, which is the average score for specialty coffees. Their coffees were bought off at K8 per kilogram by Coffee Plant Korea in January this year. The coffees were exported as origin coffees, to be sold as origin coffees at Korean coffee shops.
CIC senior quality officer Rose Romalus said this is a new market opportunity for our farmers and they must be supported in the best possible way to advance into such markets.
Despite the excitement about the new opportunity, one of the concerns raised by Morobe farmers was that there was currently no available mill to process, prepare and continue the supply of coffee for the established market, hence may affect supply.
All Highlands coffees that entered the competition were sold locally through an exporter; Coffee Connections, with an additional K2 added on the exporter price by CIC to assist farmers. The same was done for coastal coffees. A total of K20,626 was paid as additional to Highlands cooperatives in December last year.
For the coastal cooperatives, a total of K26,620 was paid as price support to assist all groups who participated at the national event.
Interim acting CEO and events committee chairman for CIC Steven Tumae said CIC paid the price support to farmer groups to show its appreciation to farmers, most of whom are remote based who have put in their effort to supply quality coffee for the competition.
“It is an incentive to create impetus for them to continue on what they are currently producing,” added Tumae.
For Morobe cooperatives, more groups have shown enthusiasm and plan to bring in coffees for two containers for shipment to the Korea market, which has been scheduled for February and March 2016.
Making its debut in 2014, the competition has definitely created some waves in the specialty markets for several cooperative groups, who have received premium benefits for their coffees.
The competition has been an eye-opener for many farmers, enabling them to realise the importance of producing quality coffee.
The PNG National Coffee Cupping Competition is an annual event which aims to discover, promote and showcase those exceptional Papua New Guinean origin coffees and to facilitate producer-buyer networking and linkages as an approach to stimulating demand for PNG’s fine and premium coffees.
(Korean cupper Jin Bok of Coffee Plant assessing farmer coffees during the National Coffee Cupping Competition last year. – Photo courtesy of CIC Media Unit.)