The 2009 Cup of Excellence report made for interesting reading. Last year Mercanta was officially the biggest single buyer of COE in the world outside Asia. Statistical proof of our commitment to paying a premium for the world’s best coffees!
Mercanta bought a total of 14 COE lots in 2009, topping the non-Asian chart of primary buyers for purchases both by weight and by value. Only a handful of buyers, all from Japan, bought more COE coffee than us.
We have enthusiastically supported COE, both as a buyer and lifetime pioneer member, since the very first auction in Brazil back in 1999. The programme’s extraordinary growth over the past decade has done wonders for the specialty coffee industry, putting entire specialty coffee-producing regions on the map. COE winners now command truly premium prices – on average some fives times higher than the commodity price and sometimes 15 to 20 times higher – reflecting the rarity value of these stringently selected fine coffees.
The stats show that Japan remains a critical market for COE – 54% of all buyers in 2009 were Japanese, while a further 5% came from South Korea. Europe came in second, supplying just over a fifth of all buyers (21%). In third place was the US market, with 16% of buyers.
For more information on the COE programme please visit www.cupofexcellence.org
