(MENAFN- Brazil-Arab News Agency (ANBA))
São Paulo – Concerns such as good practices and sustainability ensures a good performance in exports and reduce medium- and long-term production costs. So said green coffee trading company director general Humberto Florezi Filho. The 90-year-old family business belonged to his grandfather and was named Irmãos Ribeiro. Six years ago, it was purchased by Riyadh-based Fal Holdings, one of the largest companies in Saudi Arabia.
Falcafé produces 5% of its green coffee in its own farms in the state of São Paulo and Minas Gerais and buys the other 95% from small farmers, thus encouraging family farming of these regions.
Conservation of the native bush in the farms
Florezi says the trading company has cared for the sustainability of its operations for twenty years. 'Sustainability and quality have always been major concerns for our management, and we've worked on that for twenty years. When we started these projects, it hasn't such appeal, but we have increased this commitment over the last eight years,' he told ANBA.
Falcafé uses its two farms as a lab so that it can replicate its successful experiences with small farmers. 'We train farmers so that they can make a conscious, minimal use of pesticides and fertilizers, with a great care with water, since there are many springs in the farms,' Florezi said. He says the work is precautionary. Caring for the land and the water so that there are no plagues and no need for pesticides.
Santa Isabel farm in Ouro Fino (South Minas Gerais) has 400 hectares, 40% of which is native bush. Monte Verde farm in Carmo de Minas (Mantiqueira de Minas) has 700 hectares and conservates 60% of its native bush. The company's headquarter is based in Espírito Santo do Pinhal, São Paulo.
Florezi assures that the concern about sustainability, such as conservating the native bush, humane treatment of employees, care with water and minimal use of pesticides, among other practices, positively impacts exports. 'Because the final consumer looks increasingly to know not just quality but if the coffee they are drinking is sustainable, if there's been slave labor, if the farmer have conservated nature and followed the laws of its country of origin, and this is an increasing concern as a younger population starts to consume, cares more about these issues and seeks out these information,' he said.
The director said there are worldwide sustainability certifications such as UTZ and Rainforest Alliance, but they are expensive and the small farmer can't afford them. 'But now the government rans a that have had slave-like labor, an none of these farmers is our supplier,' he emphasized.
Falcafé sells around 250,000 bags of coffee a year. 'We see ourselves more as service providers than a trading company, considering the training and awareness work we do. We gain the family farmer loyalty with there practices, and the business is eventually cost-effect, and the farmer saves money,' he finished.
Harvest
Harvest: Goods practices with employees
The harvest in the regions where Falcafé operates is mostly manual as the regions are hilly. 'This makes the coffee more expensive, but we can get a better quality than in flat lands,' he explained.
During the harvest in its farms, Falcafé hires outsourced employees and supplies all the gear and required working conditions such as training, transportation, food, safety equipment, and bathroom facilities.
'A truck carries the employees through the farm so that they can be close to the food supply and the bathrooms,' Florezi said.
After the harvest, the coffee is put into bags and taken to a processing plant, where it's cleaned and separated into types. Then it'll dry in greenhouses with a controlled temperature for seven to fifteen days. Afterwards, the product goes to warehouses, where it's peeled, selected and standardized as per the taste of the roaster. Finally, it's exported in 30-kg, 60kg or 1-tonne bags or in 20-feet containers.
Exports
Exports fetch 90% of the revenue of Falcafé, which sales mostly to the United States and European Union but has increasing markets such as South Korea and the Middle East. 'The Middle East is now one of the regions where the coffee consumption grows the most. In Saudi Arabia, it's grown 20% a year,' said Florezi. Falcafé is a member of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC).
The top Arab destinations are Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and Jordan.
The 10% that stays in the domestic market is purchased by popular brands such as Melitta, Pilão e 3 Corações, as well as large-sized coffeehouse such as Santo Grão, Suplicy Cafés Especiais, and Wolff Café.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
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