John Myers Jr., Farmers Weekly Coordinator

( L - R ) Simon and Grant

Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee attracts premium price on the world market, however, there are fears that recent changes to international exporting quality standards, primarily in the Japanese market where most of the coffee is sold, could result in less of the premium product being accepted for export.

Derrick Simon, representative for the Blue Mountain coffee farmers, has expressed concern that the raising of the export quality standards by the Japanese would cause more coffee to be rejected for export, resulting in substantially less returns for the farmers who are already struggling to rehabilitate their farms.

"A lot of the coffee which normally would hit the export market it seems that it will have to be sold locally (and that depends on) whether there will be anybody to take that quantity," Mr. Simon said.

Senator Norman Grant, president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society agreed that the new standards would result in less Blue Mountain coffee being accepted for export and farmers making less returns on their investment.

"The standards are a bit high and will result in a higher cost of production," he said. 'With the tight standards, even though you will have a substantial increase in production you could very well be selling almost the same quantities you were selling (prior to the changes)," Senator Grant noted.

Substantial increase

Blue Mountain coffee production peaked at just over 400,000 boxes at the end of 2006, a substantial increase over the 240,000 boxes produced the previous year.

The new changes to the coffee exporting quality standards by the Japanese were implemented last May. Prior to these changes, coffee exports from the Blue Mountains were graded in the categories: Blue Mountain one, two, three and triage, with the latter being the highest grade. However, the standards have now been revised higher.

Mr. Simon contended that "If the revision keeps taking place on an ongoing basis then who will decide what is the ultimate?" According to Mr. Simon, the coffee bean is assessed based on colour, appearance and symmetry and configuration. He suggested that "we have to sit with the Japanese people and say 'look' the quality standards have now reached a point of ridiculous extreme."

But the JAS president, who is also the managing director of the Mavis Bank coffee factory which produces Jablum Blue Mountain coffee, while acknowledging the concerns, said he was not opposed to the changes in export quality standards.

"Let us not fool ourselves, we will not continue to fetch this fantastic price for our coffee if we don't adhere to standards. It is the quality of the product that sells it. We are not selling a run-of-the-mill coffee," he reasoned.

"The farmer will have to be more selective in how he handles his product. They will have to ensure that what they sell is of a high quality," he said.

Recent changes to international exporting quality standards could result in less of the premium product being accepted for export.