By Abigail L. Ho
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Thursday, October 16, 2008
THE LOCAL COFFEE INDUSTRY NEEDS BETWEEN P100 million and P150 million in new investments to meet local coffee demand, as Filipinos continue to increase their consumption amid shrinking domestic production.
Philippine Coffee Board co-chair Pacita Juan said existing coffee plantations would have to be rejuvenated and rehabilitated. New plantations would also have to be established, she added. “This is why we are holding the Coffee Summit on Oct.21, with the theme ‘striving for self-sufficiency.’ We want to gather all the farmers so that we can count how many farms they have. By next week, we’ll have a more concrete idea of which plantations to rehabilitate and rejuvenate, and how much we need to plant,” she said in a phone interview yesterday.
Right now, she said total domestic consumption was placed at 65,000 metric tons (MT) a year. Domestic production, however, addresses less than a half of that demand worth only 30,000 MT.
“We even went as low as 23,000 MT for sometime. That was when coffee prices were going down, so the farmers were forced to shift to other crops. But now it’s time to go back to coffee. And we need a lot of effort to do that,” she added.
Being able to meet local coffee demand domestically would result in huge savings for the country in terms of importation costs, she said.
The 100-million-P150-million investment needed to enable local supply to meet demand was merely a fraction of the additional P3.5-billion import bill that the country is forced to incur every year due to coffee importation, she said.
She added that it would make a lot of sense for the industry to boost production to be able to meet consumption, as local coffee, after all was at par with imported varieties.
“It’s definitely at par with the world’s best. This is why a lot of coffee shops especially the local brands, are now serving local coffee,” she said.
-Philippine Daily Inquirer
It is good news for our economy especially in the agricultural sector because we are now encouraged to produce our own coffee bean plantation to further meet local coffee demand.
It induces positive effects like employment, strong local economy, lesser dependence, and self-sufficiency. The summit that will be held on October 21, 2008 is a smooth start for the continuous implementation of the said plan of rehabilitating and rejuvenating coffee plantations. Philippines right now was said to consume 65,000 metric tons a year compared to the domestic production of only 30,000 MT. Obviously, almost half of the total consumption was met. But it isn’t enough. It only shows that Filipinos are big consumers of coffee and it would really be wise and profitable if we re-establish our own coffee industry. After all, our coffee was said to be at par with that of imported ones so, there’s really a huge chance of our coffee industry to boom. Moreover, we only need 150 million pesos of investment locally---such a huge saving for the government, compared to 3.5 billion pesos if we will import coffee instead. As a coffee lover, I have tried our local coffee and it does have the potential to compete with Starbucks and other coffee establishments if we give it a special attention. A good cup of coffee for less is not a bad thing at all. =)
4 comments:
If our country will have its own coffee plantation, it would be a great help for our economy. It would lessen the unemployment rate, since new coffee plantation will need new workers. It would also attract more investors, since they may see the potential increase in our economy.
However, comparing local coffee with starbucks coffee, I think it would quite be hard for local sectors to ask and insist buyers to purchase local coffee; since we all know that starbucks has already made its mark to consumers and it is sometimes treated as a daily routine. Especially for people of higher status, they would not care of the prices, as long as they drink their favorite coffee brand and as long as their brand soothes their tastes; so even if local coffee would be cheaper, I think some consumers would still choose the other brand. This case would possibly be one of the problems they will be facing.
On the other hand, I think there would be more middle and lower class people who would be more willing to buy cheaper products. If local coffee would fit the Filipino taste, then I think it would be a good news for the consumers as well. As for me, a consumer, I would be willing to try local coffee if it is widely out on market.
Its high time the country invests in agriculture. I believe a strong agricultural sector will make the country a more developed nation. It will definitely reel in more funds and more investments creating new jobs.
Agriculture is what made the United States a strong and developed 1st World country. The Great Plains of Kanas, Montana, Colorado, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and other states from the Mexican Gulf to Canada produce billions of tons of grain, wheat, and others that is processed and/or exported to the rest of the world.
I think it is the right time to invest more on coffee plantation and produce more coffee beans. Since all of us loves to drink coffee, I think this is also a good way to show our nationalistic side by drinking local brands of coffee. One good local coffee that is really good is the "kapeng barako". It's really good and it is such a waste that the producers of kapeng barako has lessened over the years. The reason for this is the high cost of maintenance on coffee farms and the low market price of coffee.
But then again, all things have negative sides. If we produce more local coffee, it would be very hard to assure our farmers that their coffee is being consumed by people, just like what street_rulez said, people of higher status would still drink starbucks and they don't care about prices. But of course, we should still try to improve our coffee farms, who knows, there might be a miracle from above at some point in time and our coffee would soon be a world-class drink.
Coffee became an essential part in the everyday life of a Filipino. I personally am thrilled reading this news because I am a fan of this product and I drink it everyday. It is a good step in improving our economy because this can promote growth in terms of export in our country. If coffee supply is just enough for coffee demand, then it will only be enough to feed your country but increasing supply of coffee would make opportunities on trading with other countries. It will also improve our product in terms of competition.
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