WITH Hervin Willis, the senior director of coffee at the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA), ready for retirement the government body is now seeking a new manager for the portfolio.

Willis concludes a 36-year career with the board. He became director of coffee at JACRA following the merger of the Coffee Industry Board and the Cocoa Industry Board.

The new manager will be responsible for oversight of quality standards, provision of quality assurance and certification services, and generally focus on governing trading in the coffee industry in Jamaica.

JACRA is responsible for the licensing and monitoring of all coffee stakeholders who include dealers, manufacturers, processors, operators of works and nurseries, as well as trademark registration licensing and monitoring of users of these trademarks.

Coffee Marks Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of JACRA, is the owner of the Jamaica Blue Mountain and Jamaican High Mountain Supreme trademarks, and is responsible for the integrity and licensing of the brands.

Over time JACRA, formerly the Coffee Industry Board, has developed specific quality standards for the commodity, with regulations covering quality, growing, and geographic location. The investment of effort has resulted in Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee (JBM) earning the ranking of the world’s best coffee.

Almost 90 per cent of Jamaica’s coffee production has been derived from the JBM region for the past several years (236,513 60-pound boxes from the JBM region vs 27,988 60-pound boxes in the high mountain region in the 2017-2018 crop year).

Farmers are paid almost twice as much for coffee grown in the JBM region as opposed to the others.

Challenges

Overall the industry has endured many challenges over time, including disease and price fluctuations. Additionally, the Government of Jamaica, which at one time was a major investor in the largest coffee estates — Mavis Bank and Wallenford in St Andrew — divested these properties around 2013.

Since then, market development has been erratic. Efforts to vary market profile have not been greatly successful.

Historically, Japan is the largest market for JBM, taking around 70 per cent of the crop each year, most of which are green bean exports. The United States receives about five per cent of the total exports from the Jamaica coffee industry. The European Union receives another five per cent of the exports.

While in 2000, a record year of production, 1.85 million kg of green coffee beans were exported, since then output has not recovered.

This current crop year might boost hopes of change. Exports for January to March 2022, according to the JACRA, were valued at US$3.51 million.

The JACRA report for the period states that the “export trend is currently at 21.4 per cent over the prior year of 2021, with 2022 expected to attain an export value of over US$21.70 million by year end December 2022”.

JACRA says that the 2021/2022 crop is showing some of the highest volumes in the past five crop years, noting also that December 2021 was 95.52 per cent greater than the previous crop of December (2020).

Some processors however complain that JBM remains the most expensive coffee in the world with too many players, farmers, and roasters alike, resulting in margins under pressure.

Researchers note, additionally, that over the past 15-20 years the customer base has changed significantly, with many demanding a wider choice of specialty coffees and coffee blends.

JACRA is optimistic about the future. For the period ending March 2022, which represents eight months of the 2021/2022 crop, the body reports, “This crop continues on the upward trajectory in the biennial crop pattern. The distribution of fertiliser to coffee farmers from late 2019 into early 2021 still appears to be a contributing factor in the increased volumes.”

JACRA’s cess and licensing fees were cut by 50 per cent by the Ministry of Finance and Public Service in 2020 based on the pending impact to the coffee business and a possible drastic cut in sales.

The regulator says there was, however, no real downturn in sales volumes, and processorsdealers have benefited from the lower rates which they have kept.