Click here for the latest info.

 February 2024

March 2024
Click here for the latest info.

The coffee industry said it expects to benefit from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement, standing apart from the rest of the agriculture sector, which has raised the loudest objections against the trade deal.

The ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) already allows all Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) coffees to come in and out freely, Pacita U. Juan, vice-president of the non-profit ASEAN Coffee Federation, said.

“RCEP for coffee adds Japan, Korea, and China (to the mix),” she said in a Feb. 3 Zoom call.

AFTA was a stress test for the coffee industry, Ms. Juan added: “If it were to shake up the coffee industry, it should have shaken it up already.”

RCEP will help farmers if the Philippine coffee industry avoids commodification and works out a way to promote its beans as products with distinctive origins, according to Ariestelo A. Asilo, a social entrepreneur and co-founder of Varacco, Inc., a food and beverage company.

“This free trade agreement will benefit farmers — as long as we strengthen our geographical markers of coffee and rice,” he said, referring to geographical indications (GI) system. “In other countries they have chocolates, ours will be coffee.”

A GI is “an indication that identifies a product as originating in a territory, area, or location, and where a given quality, reputation, or other characteristics of the good are primarily related to its geographical origin and human factors,” according to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines.

The opportunities lie in crop resilience research, Mr. Asilo told BusinessWorld. More can also be done to improve production and post-harvest facilities, he added.

In a February 3 phone call, he said the Philippines produces 60,000 metric tons (MT) of coffee a year, yet demand for the product is 160,000 MT.

Revenue generated by the Philippine coffee industry is projected at $6.70 billion in 2023, according to Statista.

The average volume per person for 2023 is expected to amount to 1.36 kilograms.

Mr. Asilo cited the potential of liberica — known in the Philippines as barako coffee — which is one of the major commercially grown varieties apart from excelsa, robusta, and arabica.

“We have really good coffee. Our (flavor) profile is really good, and we are also one of the few countries that grow all four coffee bean types,” he said.

Opportunities also lie in specialization, Ms. Juan said.

The Philippine Coffee Board, of which Ms. Juan is president and co-chair, has been teaching farmers to process robusta beans into specialty robusta.

“We call it fine robusta. It’s almost like arabica. If you produce 7,000 metric tons and make it fine robusta, you can double the price without doubling production,” she said.

“We try to make small-production specialty coffee, meaning if we produce only 30,000 metric tons, then it might as well be well-priced, (not treated like a) commodity,” Ms. Juan added.

RCEP can help in this department, she said. South Korea, for one, tends to buy low-volume but high-value coffee.

“We’ve managed to create a specialty coffee image for the country. RCEP will allow us to export this to high-end buyers such as Korea and Japan,” Ms. Juan said.

Ms. Juan acknowledged that the rest of the farm industry is in a different situation in the RCEP debate.

“Coffee is a different product. We’re blessed that we’re not as perishable as onions and pechay (bok choy),” she said, “but for the ordinary farmer, (it will really be a deluge) of vegetable imports.”

Photo by Freepik

The kismet meeting of Pacita Juan, President of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) in the Philippines, with then IWCA President Phyllis Johnson started the cause of IWCA Philippines “to get more women to access markets and to let women get the full value of their work in coffee.” Juan said, “It has been a good seven years.”

Chapter heads of IWCA

Another fateful meeting right after was with Princess Kumala Sug-Elardo, the chair of a women-led multipurpose cooperative in Panamao, Sulu. Then there was a gathering of several women leaders passionate about coffee—including café owners Lot Manalo-Tan and Reena Francisco, research professional Josephine Ramos, and coffee processor Christine Abellon—that united and formed the IWCA Philippines chapter.

As beautiful as the coffee process is—from sourcing beans to planting to harvesting to roasting—the IWCA story unfolded beautifully to reveal how a single coffee bean can bring women to work together towards one purpose. Women are at their best when they come together. As a team, like clockwork, exhibited their coffee expertise, the “Women in Coffee” (WIC) brand came into fruition. Imagine each woman as a color in an exquisite tapestry, weaving across one another, either supporting or taking the lead. What a vivid and creative picture it brings!

IWCA-Philippines founders

Juan recalled how each one beautifully wove in together: “We met Ross Alonso, a Robusta farmer from Batangas; Noemi Dado and her daughter Marielle, who wanted to plant coffee in Benguet; Imelda Ahalul-Dagus, who started Dennis Coffee Garden in Zamboanga; Gold Quetulio, who would take care of our membership campaign; and many others who signed up because they believed in our advocacy.”

Imelda Ahalul-Dagus

Every year since 2012, Sug-Elardo has promoted during the harvest season the “Pick Red” campaign in Sulu as Juan and Nicky Matti would do the same in Benguet. The years 2014 to 2016 saw the purchase and transport of jute sacks to the Cordilleras. The coffee beans, in all forms such as parchment, green or roasted, were also purchased for the WIC brand. The brands Sulu Royal Coffee of Sug-Elardo and the Commune of Ros Juan were also launched.

The best part was providing jobs for women and encouraging them to participate in the advocacy with their coffee skills and talents. To continue building the women and the coffee culture, IWCA partnered with other agencies and NGOs; ACDI/VOCA, ECHOsi Foundation, and the DA’s Gender and Development (GAD) Office. Together, IWCA and its partners developed trainings under the “Women in Coffee” banner.

IWCA traveled to Davao, Butuan City, Sagada, Sultan Kudarat, Ilocos Sur, Nueva Vizcaya, Cavite, Ifugao, and Kalinga to communicate coffee about, with and through women. There were quality coffee talks from all sectors, from women farmer groups to women cuppers to women tasters.

With the involvement of USAID’s Green Invest in 2018, IWCA has now gained momentum after a decade’s work. IWCA conducted studies for women in the coffee sector in the country and internationally through the International Institute for Environment and Development’s (IIED) commissioning to research and write case studies for journals. IWCA Philippines has grown and extended its reach with esteemed international partners such as the ASEAN Coffee Federation, who opened its conference and exhibition doors for IWCA in Cafe Asia in Singapore (March) and in the THAIFEX in Bankok (May).

Truly, the role that women and coffee continue to play together is this: “The mission is not just to upgrade the quality of coffee, but to use it to uplift the lives of the people in the community.”

written by Ann Kuy

Cupping the coffees in the region

“Training the Trainer” courses also helped educate more baristas and coffee producers in all the member countries. And from two years ago, cupping sessions for various ASEAN origins have been held at both shows, encouraging better coffee, especially from small farms or producers.

Training the Trainers led by Justin Metcalf

This year ACF will be holding a coffee auction at the Café Asia event in March at Marina Bay Sands Singapore. Specialty coffees will be sold in limited quantities at premium prices to encourage ASEAN farmers to keep improving their produce.

Symposia and other conference-type events are planned to be held continuously to educate more coffee practitioners. Education about coffees from the region (touted to be the next frontier of coffee) is the main mission of ACF.

ACF is a registered non-profit organization domiciled in Singapore, where its President Victor Mah heads the Singapore Coffee Association (SCA). It is supported by its members which are the primary industry (coffee) organizations in the ten ASEAN member states.

“We must promote ASEAN coffees which are on a par with and sometimes even better than those from faraway places,” says one ACF director.

It was a question that Victor Mah, President of the ASEAN Coffee Federation (ACF), posed to everyone at ACF’s 2nd Board Meeting. He particularly mentioned Philippines, Myanmar, and Vietnam because the three countries can boast of their centuries-old tradition of growing and consuming coffee.

In the Philippines, coffee has a history as rich as its flavor. In the 1800s, Barako commanded five times the price of other Asian coffee beans as we became the fourth largest exporter.

Today, Filipino coffee consumption far outweighs production. Vietnam produces thousands of metric tons that are enough to supply the global demand while Myanmar was recently hailed as Asia’s newest origin of specialty coffee. Fortunately, there are still various places in the Philippines where coffee has gone through the proper process from seed to cup. The constant challenge is how to make coffee production sustainable which will also make it profitable.

The Ultimate Coffee Guide‘s articles unravels the Philippines’ coffee journey as we discover more about where we are and where our coffee culture is headed.

Photos by Ros Juan and PCBI

“The Indonesian exporters of green coffee beans know that there are now many Philippine cafes looking for ASEAN coffee origins,” says Hidayat Zakaria, Counsellor of the Embassy. Besides coffee exporters, other coffee-related businesses are also looking for partners to set up shop in the country. This will bode well for ASEAN integration and makes the two countries work together since the Philippines has now become a net importer of coffee due to its increasing consumption.

The Philippines imports around 80% of its consumption in coffee or about 100,000 MT a year, largely from Indonesia and Vietnam. Now the Indonesians wish to meet more of the coffee-consuming Filipinos.

“We are happy to help the Indonesian Embassy,” says Robert Francisco, Executive Director of the PCBI. After all, what benefits ASEAN countries benefits the whole region in increased coffee exports as the world faces an imminent coffee shortage in the years to come.

“Making friends with our ASEAN coffee-producing neighbors this early will help the Philippines position itself in the coffee trade. The Philippines consumes about 135,000 MT of coffee but only produces 35,000 MT, making imports imperative as coffee takes 3-5 years to bear fruit and coffee roasters need the green coffee to process for soluble coffee and for specialty coffee as well,” a PCBI official said.

For interested parties you may call PCBI at 0908-8831218 or email admin.pcbi@gmail.com for seats to this “by invitation” session.