Page 87 - #56 English

The prevailing expectation is that since harvest
begins in October and ends from December-January,
coffee buyers cup/select in February, and then containers
ship in March. This schedule is based on buyers’
experience of the former auction system and does not
reflect the way the current auction system operates. Farmers Initial Trading Washing/Hulling
In the old system, parchment coffee was sent Market
to a centralized warehouse and then purchased in
Addis Ababa. This meant that a coffee purchased in
the morning could be delivered to the buyer’s facility
within the same day. When the new ECX system
was implemented, the decision was made to place
warehouses in seven locations across the country Exporters Ethiopian Commodity Exchange
that make up the geographic regions that coffees
are now sold as (e.g. Yirgacheffe, Sidama, Limmu,
etc.). So now when a lot is purchased, it has to travel
from the countryside to Addis after the regulated
inspections are made and paperwork is in order. This
process takes, on average, 10 days.
By the time the coffee arrives in Addis, it has Foreign Buyers Consumers
not yet been evaluated by the buyer. In fact, one can
only make a quality claim while the coffee is still at
its original warehouse. And in reality, the current Let’s assume a lot has been purchased on
ECX structure makes it close to impossible to make February 1 (e.g. Kochere gr. 1) and it proceeds to
quality claims because: Addis without incident:

1. you have to pay a non-refundable fee of $150
to have your coffee inspected 2. you have to
have a staff member be there to do the inspec-
tion 3. you have to pay your driver’s expens-
es while any claim is made and the resulting
appeal is followed up. And of course, the coffee
isn’t going anywhere and can’t be offered to
any customers while this process is unfolding.

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