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Posted on February 15 2017
February 15 2017
2017 marked the second year of Mercanta’s Jantioquia (January in Antioquia) – an event inspired by my own experiences in Antioquia some years ago. When I first began visiting Antioquia in 2010, the department (Colombia’s largest administrative subdivision) had long been overlooked with regards to both coffee and tourism. At the time, Huila held distinction
Posted on December 21 2016
December 21 2016
The town of Las Victorias is located in Guatemala’s Alta Verapaz region – an area widely renowned for its coffee. Some 80 families are scattered among farms and rainforest in this beautiful, but impoverished, area. The nearest town, San Cristobal Verapaz, is about an hour’s walk. Although some families farm corn, beans and livestock to eek
Posted on September 6 2016
September 6 2016
Grant Rattray and Leah Warren visit Papua New Guinea and tell us about their search for quality green coffee in this unique origin.
Posted on September 1 2016
September 1 2016
Mercanta’s Stephen Cornford takes a journey to Peru: 11,265 km long and, 2,500m high.
Posted on July 6 2016
July 6 2016
Mercanta's ability to link and create relationships between producers and roasters highlighted and praised by Sustainable Restaurant Association
Posted on December 17 2013
December 17 2013
“We have drawn a line in the sand which not many have dared to do. All our business is done on a fixed price, above the cost of production.” For the everyday high street coffee trader, the matter of coffee pricings is a minefield… indeed, probably something to stay well away from. And yet, nobody
Posted on June 26 2013
June 26 2013
Funds raised from the sale of Finca El Retiro, El Talapo and Guachoca last year have continued to improve the lives of the communities involved in the Pacas Family Charity FUNPRES. After our last investment into the FUNPRES charity, we have received the first report about the programs, which highlights how more people will benefit
Posted on April 2 2013
April 2 2013
Mercanta have joined forces with Café Pacas, to reach beyond the coffee plantations and put the proceeds from coffee back into communities in El Salvador. After an initial donation early last year, we decided to continue our support of two schools sponsored by Café Pacas. By donating 10p from the sale of every 1kg of
Posted on March 17 2013
March 17 2013
While farmers across Colombia have been blocking roads and causing general disruption in a widespread protest over low prices, Mercanta are getting to know the growers in order to offer them a viable outlet for their specialty product. After establishing a sourcing office in Medellin, Colombia in 2011, Mercanta has spent the past 18 months
Posted on December 2 2012
December 2 2012
Each Christmas Mercanta sponsors a charitable project in one of the coffee-producing origins we work with. This year we decided to support FUNPRES, a not-for-profit organisation that runs support and prevention programmes for victims of child abuse in El Salvador. We have just received a report back on the project’s progress… FUNPRES (short for ‘Fundación
Posted on March 8 2012
March 8 2012
Although Mercanta is not in the commodity business, we, and everyone involved in the green unroasted coffee business, are in some way affected by/connected to the ”commodity price” as quoted on the New York and London exchanges. The commodity price for coffee is a topic of endless debate, frequently misunderstood, and dare I say it,
Posted on December 17 2010
December 17 2010
A dozen intrepid coffee hunters gathered in Medan, Sumatra, at the end of November for a field trip to Indonesia’s largest coffee-producing island. The group spent ten days visiting coffee growing regions in Aceh and North Sumatra provinces. Our host was our excellent milling partner -PT Sarimakmur – who Mercanta has been working with for
Posted on November 5 2010
November 5 2010
A free-market thinktank, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), has just published a research paper slamming Fair Trade. We have never carried Fair Trade coffee at Mercanta – simply because we don’t think the model works for the specialty coffee business – so we were very interested to see what the IEA has to say.
Posted on August 18 2010
August 18 2010
Mercanta is proud to be a Gold level member of the WWF’s new business club – a community of small to medium sized businesses who are supporting WWF-UK’s urgent work. WWF-UK is the UK arm of the WWF Network, the world’s leading environmental organisation founded in 1961 and now active in over 100 countries. By
Posted on May 5 2010
May 5 2010
Mercanta has donated two sets of two tickets for the upcoming 2010 World Cup in South Africa to FIFA’s charitable Ticket Fund. This initiative will make World Cup matches accessible to thousands of South Africans who could not usually afford a ticket. FIFA will give a total of 120,000 free tickets to South African residents
Posted on February 27 2009
February 27 2009
With Fairtrade Fortnight now almost over for 2009, we were delighted to be given a platform to describe our sourcing model to Financial Times journalist, Francis Percival. The editor’s choice of title rather misses the point(!), but the body of this carefully considered and well-written piece appeared in last weekend’s edition and makes clear the
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