The Supreme Court is to hear this Thursday, September 10, Salada Foods’ case against the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA).

Salada has petitioned the high court seeking, among other things, leave to apply for judicial review to seek orders of certiorari and mandamus for the decision taken by JACRA to impose a 30 per cent local coffee content in the formulation of its instant coffee blend. The effective date of this directive was September 1, 2020.

The case was supposed to have been heard last Wednesday but was put off until this Thursday.

The case was initiated by Salada, which filed an application in the Supreme Court two weeks ago seeking to block JACRA from effecting the 30 per cent local coffee content.

At present, Salada uses 10 per cent local coffee in its blend of instant coffee but the company is resisting the increased local coffee content on the grounds that it will change its instant coffee formula, which will be detrimental to the company’s cost of sales.

According to Salada, the move will also materially change the taste profile of its Mountain Peak Coffee brand, which currently enjoys over 50 per cent market share of the instant coffee sector, and the company is unsure of how receptive consumers will be to this.

In seeking to set the records straight, JACRA told the Sunday Finance that it will not be extending the 10 per cent local coffee content waiver, which Salada has been enjoying since January 2018.

JACRA, which was established for the development, regulation, and standardisation of the agricultural commodities (coffee, cocoa, coconut and spices) industry, sought to explain the necessity for the imposition of 30 per cent local coffee content at this time.

Salada Foods was first granted permission to use 10 per cent of local coffee in their instant coffee products in January 2018. This was following on the low production of Jamaica High Mountain Coffee, which resulted in low availability for Salada’s purposes.

The permit was further extended to Salada Foods on April 18, 2019 and expired December 2019. While JACRA has not stated it explicitly, it can be assumed that the imposition of the 30 per cent local coffee content is to force Salada buy up some of the excess coffee on the local market.

Coffee farmers have been facing a 90 per cent reduction in sales and unsold inventory of some 600,000 pounds of coffee beans. This is due particularly to disruptions brought on by COVID-19, which saw the tourism sector, being one of the primary consumer of local coffee, shutting down for three months and only now slowly opening up.