What do you do if coffee production is still lacking? You consult experts like coffee professionals from around the region.
Directors of the Asean Coffee Federation (ACF) will be speaking at the eighth National Coffee Summit organized by the nonprofit Philippine Coffee Board Inc. at SMX Lanang, Davao City, on October 22.
Oliver Broster of Bero Singapore, one of the biggest buyers of coffee in the world, will be speaking about the “Situation of the Coffee Markets in the World,” while speakers from Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia will be sharing the similar, albeit also different, coffee scenes in Asean.
The Department of Trade and Industry’s Myrna Pablo will share about the Clustering method used by the department to integrate efforts in delivering shared facilities to our country’s many coffee farmers.
Chief of Party Thelonious Trimmell of ACDI/VOCA, another non-governmental organization, will discuss the organization’s Mindanao project for coffee and cacao.
Other coffee resource persons have been invited to the country’s annual coffee stakeholders’ meet, which was started seven years ago by the country’s leading private-sector-led organization, the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI). Among its many projects is country branding, which promotes the Kape Isla brand and its Pick Red advocacy for quality coffee harvests.
The ACF was organized in 2012 to be the one body representing Asean coffee producers and major traders and consumers. It is headquartered in Singapore, and the PCBI is a founding member of the prestigious body.
“We are glad we took the call of ACF to join them,” PCBI Chairman Nicholas Matti says. “We have been attending the periodic regional meetings since 2012, which has allowed us to position Philippine coffee among the other Asean producers,” he continues.
The ACF may be the key to the Philippines’s adoption of a position in promoting specialty- grade coffee to Asean and European buyers. “We have won prizes for our Mount Apo coffees in the 2014 Roasters award in Thailand,” Chit Juan, PCBI president, proudly announced. “This may be just the start of specialty Philippine coffee gaining a global name through ACF-sponsored events and roasting competitions,” she declares.
The Asean Economic Community is here, and Philippine coffee may yet be the most, ready sector to brave the challenges of regionalization. The PCBI has capitalized on its ACF network to give Philippine coffee the accolades it rightfully deserves.
Two prizes were brought home by specialty Philippine coffees in the Roasters Choice award held in Thailand in May 2014. And there are more awaiting our coffees if farmers listened and practiced what these experts suggest to do.
The summit is open for registration but you better register soon, as seats are filling up. Last year’s summit had a record audience, making the PCBI choose a bigger venue this year. Log on to www.philcoffeeboard.com or e-mail admin.pcbi@gmail.com.