Market Trends for Coffee, Tea and Cocoa – Part Two2 min read

Other important factors that potential exporters should pay attention to when planning to penetrate the European coffee, tea and cocoa market, according to the document released by CBI, the Center for Promotion of Imports from developing countries, are the “technological market drivers”. Overall, the agency in Netherlands emphasizes the role of innovation and communication.

Innovation is crucial to achieving a better quality of a certain product. There should be a constant preoccupation with innovation in the agronomy sector. The document also stresses the importance of farm management. If these two top requirements are fulfilled, there result would be “improved crop management, higher production and/or yields and higher quality products”. As the EU consumer is increasingly looking for high quality products, plenty of attention should be devoted to first stages concerning the coming into being of a certain product. “Collecting, cutting, sorting and mixing techniques” are emphasized upon. Therefore, the quality of the product is essential to its success.

“Genome innovation” is the second technological market driver that can determine whether or not a product will be successful. The document insists on the importance of “the development of resistant and more productive trees and seeds”. For example, the decoding of the genome of the cocoa tree is a great step forward for cocoa breeders. It can lead to developing species of cocoa tree that are resistant to fungi or other insidious diseases. Therefore, the CBI foresees “yield and hardiness improvement” and underlines the importance of getting involved in technological innovation projects. It is stressed, however, that there is a certain financial risk in participating in uncertain and experimental agronomic projects.

The third technological market driver that has to be taken into consideration when approaching the coffee, tea or cocoa market, much like any other business sector, has to do with communication technologies. The CBI document underlines the role of “real time price information from exchange markets”. Thanks to the mobile phone technology this desideratum has already been achieved and no one could imagine nowadays a business without it. It is crucial to farmers and exporters. An emphasis is placed on “the further development of communication tools, information transfer and potential innovations”. Exporters must be connected to the market at any time and respond quickly. Investment in machinery is encouraged. To diminish risks, the advice is to buy second hand machinery.

© www.bestfoodimporters.com 2014