Hello November,
 
The year is racing ahead, and so are the many small businesses emerging from many months of lockdown across Australia.
As we breathe a collective sigh of relief for the re-opening of our cities on the home front, we turn to review the state of the international coffee market, and the turbulence caused by weather, politics and agriculture this year, and sadly it’s not all positive news. 
 
With the way the current world coffee market price levels are headed, it would be remiss of us not to mention to you our valued customers, that we strongly recommend that you keep monitoring the coffee market levels.
 
We suggest it good business practice for our customers to have a solid commercial understanding of the impact the international coffee market may have on businesses cash flow and forward monetary projections. Since the frost in Brazil back in July this year and the continuing issues around global shipping, freight costs and transit lead times; many Arabica coffees are now costing between AUD$3 and $5 a kilo more than just 6 months ago.
 
Perhaps the question that needs to be answered is: Do you as a roaster, have the ability to be able to sustain substantially higher prices for one of your largest business expenses? - raw green coffee beans. We want to ensure and help our customers to understand the potential cash flow impact to their business and to gain a deeper appreciation of the movement in coffee prices.
 
A potential scenario could be, if you had a monthly spend of $40,000 on green coffee beans six months ago, with current coffee price levels this could double – therefore how does your business manage to absorb these levels of increase?
 
As we sit here today and look forward to the coming 2022-year, one thing will be guaranteed and that is coffee prices will be substantially higher in Australian Dollars than the start of the 2021 year. Please don’t miss your opportunity to plan ahead in the new year with the assistance of your Bennetts Account Manager.


BENNETTS COVID POLICY 
 
In regards to the Victorian Government mandate and on advice from the Victorian Chief Health Officer on onsite workers and vaccinations, Bennetts would like to ensure you that we are fully committed to protecting the safety and well-being of our employees and our customers.
For this very reason, Bennetts team members are fully vaccinated and extremely excited to be able to finally visit you at your place of business – that is of course if you will allow us 😊
 
In keeping in line with our commitment to protect the safety and well-being of our employees and our customers, before a Bennetts representative can visit your place of business, we would like to understand your Covid work place level of compliance, therefore our Account Managers may ask you some questions about your Covid safety strategies before visiting.  We hope you can assist us with this information to help us make informed choices.

Please note, that it is not Bennett’s intention to discriminate against its customers stance on the current working environment.


MARKET REPORT

Another month come and gone, and as we write this, we are a mere 7 weeks away from Christmas… time flies when you’re trying to keep up with a runaway coffee market right?
It was more of the same last month (which actually means more logistical issues, contract defaults at and reports of reduced potential production in various origins), and this has meant prices kept ratcheting up past previously-considered solid resistance levels. 200c/lb looks like good buying now, and 180c/lb… well, that just looks quaint.



As it stands, we can’t really see prices coming down much (or at least significantly) for the next few months, as any small correction to the downside is met with voracious buying from those who have run down their reserves while waiting for prices to come back, or those needing to get out of nasty short positions and start anew.
Still, any small respite in this trading environment is like a passing shower on parched, cracked soil…. Not ideal, but better than nothing. So, if the markets come down a bit and the price works, then it’s not a bad idea to get some cover.
 
And speaking of rain, it absolutely bucketed in Brazil last month, and guess what? Now there’s talk of toooo much rain potentially damaging crops, etc, etc, and so it goes on. Who knows, maybe the excessive rains helped drown the locust plague that was next in line to wreak havoc in Brazil…..


A WORD FROM THE CUPPING ROOM
 
In case you missed it, last month we landed some cracking microlots from Costa Rica and Panama. These tasty Natural, Honey and Anaerobic processed coffees were featured on our Instagram and you can check out the details here. 
 
This month we are eagerly anticipating the arrival of this seasons Nicaragua La Bastilla microlots. If you were lucky enough to score a bag of the ‘Blueberry Candy’ or Pineapple Candy’ last year you’ll know how good these syrupy, boozy, fruity coffees are! 
Stay tuned to our socials for updates, or contact your Bennetts Account Manager. 

      

                                                      Farmers picking on the La Bastilla farm.

ETHIOPIA UPDATE

Last week we received upsetting news of the escalating conflict in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Tigrayan conflict has escalated against the central Ethiopian Government since late last year. The Capital announced a nationwide state of emergency, encouraging Addis Ababa’s five million residents to take up arms to prepare and defend the city.  While we are still unsure as to how this civil unrest will affect the harvest and future shipments of coffee to Australia, especially considering the challenges already presented by Covid and the global shipping crisis. However, we will endeavour to keep you updated as we learn more. You can read more about the situationhere.


BRAZIL UPDATE

Following the news of the frosts in Brazil we have received some questions about the supply of Brazilian coffee into Australia.
In short, we will not have a supply issue. The long answer takes into account several factors.

• Australian consumption of Brazilian coffee is just a fraction of the origins global market supply. In fact the estimated loss of crop due to the recent frost, far outweighs the number of bags required by Australian roasters. 
• Generally Australian rosters only buy premium export grade Arabic coffee, which again makes up just part of Brazil’s annual crop. 
• The actual loss at origin in the scheme of the global market is not catastrophic enough to limit our supply (however it has had negative pricing ramifications).

INDUSTRY NEWS

In lighter news, have you heard about laboratory grown coffee?? Researchers in Finland are looking at way they can use biotechnology instead of agriculture to grow coffee – in an attempt to produce beans in a more sustainable way!! Check out this video for details.