Within the framework of the Coffee Summit, Gustavo Gómez Montero, president of Asoexport, asked the National Government for support in coffee renovation and fertilization to maintain good production levels; At his turn, the technical deputy minister of Finance and Public Credit, Gonzalo Hernández, pointed out that this is a government commitment to coffee growers.
(Coffee exports to China have been growing in double digits).
The other requests from the union of coffee exporters, meeting in Cartagena, referred to improving the country’s connectivity with tertiary roads, ports and efficiency in transportation costs. Furthermore, they mentioned that The rules of the game must be clear and stable so that they generate confidence in the Colombian economy.
Javier Díaz Molina, executive president of Analdex, assured that world trade is decreasing due to related disturbances such as the war in Ukraine, high energy prices, inflation and the tightening of monetary policies.
Likewise, the official indicated that trade will slow down by 2023, citing figures from the World Trade Organization (WTO), where the growth of the sector in 2022 is expected to reach 3.5%, but for next year, this decreases to 1%.
(The call to coffee growers to take advantage of the high price of coffee).
Turning his gaze towards coffee production, in the morning session, Vice Minister Hernández Jiménez, Vice Minister, highlighted the potential of the Robusta coffee variety for Colombia, as an alternative to supply supply for internal demand and substitution of imports of the grain, without detriment of affecting the denomination of origin of Colombian coffee.
In addition, he added that a key aspect for the strategic development of the sector has to do with the renovation programs for coffee plantations and said that the Government is willing to contribute within the framework of a rural development strategy considering that this initiative of a new variety can take place in sectors previously affected by the armed conflictwhich would be in accordance with government goals.
However, Roberto Vélez Vallejo, general manager of the National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC), stated that the renewal of coffee crops is not going at the rate they would like. “Within the Colombian coffee production productivity scheme, we have the goal of renewing 10% of the coffee area. Today the coffee has 840,000 hectares, which would be equivalent to 84,000. This year has been particularly slow, for different reasons such as good prices”, the manager finished.
The behavior of the dollar in the coffee sector
Looking at currencies, the executive director of Asoexport, Gustavo Gómez added that “coffee is at a relevant moment. The TRM, which is around $5,000, which is an important incentive, and the average coffee prices above 2 million pesos of the cargo means that we are going to close the year with a harvest value of more than 14 billion, which is a good news for the country. However, it cannot be ignored that these prices also impact the costs of production and marketing of coffee.
Likewise, Díaz Molina, president of Analdex, said that the very high prices of the dollar can also discourage the purchase of any product, including coffee. “A dollar with a medium and stable price is good”he pointed.
(Why is coffee production in the country falling?).
Regarding tax reform, the Deputy Minister of Finance stated that the General Manager of the Federation of Coffee Growers, Roberto Vélez, acknowledged that some adjustments were made to the text. “A specific element had to do with the cost presumption of the coffee growers, of course the government and in the process of the Congress of the Republic discussed that it was convenient to maintain that cost presumption scheme so as not to run the risk of affecting any of the the 540,000 coffee-producing families in Colombia”he indicated.
In turn, the manager of the grain producers union stated that “The initial texts had a couple of things that were worrying and they are no longer part of it, showing that both the Government and Congress understood the concerns of the coffee growers.”
BRIEFCASE
