Please find here above the coffee closing data of Thursday 2^nd of September 2010 of the Arabica coffee market in New-York (ICE) and for the Robusta coffee market LIFFE in London. New York December cocoa closed 20 points higher at 2732 and October sugar closed 22 points higher at 2071.

New-York “C” will be closed on Monday next week, 6^th of September for the Labor Day Holiday. London LIFE will operate normally.

Merdeka Coffee, the Indonesian Coffee Specialists, have announced store openings for the second half of 2010. "We have confirmed opening in Sydney, CBD in July," said Alun Evans, overseas Business Development Manager. Also confirmed is an opening in Jakarta in August and a store opening in Malaysia in November. The openings will take Merdeka coffee retail business up to 8 stores in four countries. The company has put back plans to open in Singapore until 2011. "The Singapore market is still in recovery," said Evans, "We foresee opening a roast/retail outlet in that country in the first half of 2011."  Merdeka Coffee has been roasting Indonesian Arabica Coffee since 2003. The company has championed direct trade/relationship coffee with small-holders throughout Indonesia.

Global coffee production in 2010-11 crop year is likely to go up by 12.5% to 135 million bags due to higher yield in Brazil, the International Coffee Organization (ICO) has said. The global production is estimated to be around 120 million bags in 2009-10 crop year, a 6.3% dip over that of 2008-09. Coffee year runs from October to September. A bag contains 60 kg of coffee. “As the crop year (2010-11) is a high production year in the biennial cycle that characterizes Arabica production in Brazil, it is envisaged that the Brazilian crop will rise to around 47 million bags,” ICO said in a report. Production in Colombia is also expected to recover after two consecutive years of low output, it said, however, adding the high level of production originally anticipated in Vietnam could be affected due to climatic problems. Meanwhile, coffee exports, in the first nine months of the current crop year, fell 6.8% to 69.8 million bags from 74.9 million bags a year ago. Global consumption in the calendar year 2009 stood at 128.8 million bags compared with 130.7 million bags in 2008, a fall of 1.5%.

In India, the area under certified coffee, that is, coffee certified by certain international agencies to have been produced in environmentally sustainable and labour-friendly conditions is slated to increase by at least 7’000 acres in 2010-11, from the present level of about 50’000 acres. The Robusta-growing Wayanad region in Kerala accounts for most of this year s increase in acreage under certified coffee. It is reliably learnt that the ABC Group plans to bring 2’000-2’500 acres under UTZ Certified this year – 1’600 acres in Kerala and 600-700 acres in Karnataka. It has about 6’000 acres under certified coffee plantation.

In Australia, a new pest has emerged that could wipe out the northern NSW coffee industry. Over the last week, fruit bats have been devouring thousands of dollars worth of coffee crops. Five growers have reported the unusual pest this week. An early flowering season and a lack of food for bats at this time of the year are being blamed. The president of the Australian Subtropical Coffee Association, Joss Webber, calculates his loss at between $6’000 and $8’000. He talked with National Parks and Wildlife about possible ways to get rid of the bats. "They re picking the ripest and eating it and spitting the parchment beans out, which is our product we need for roasting," he says. "My estimate looking around is we re losing around 150 grams of coffee around each tree, and that s nearly a ton of coffee that I ve got lying on the ground."

Nestle India has made Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone as the brand ambassador for coffee brand Nescafe. This would be the first such celebrity association for Nescafe in its existence in India.

We wish you a good summer day with a pleasant reading and a nice week-end.

Best regards,

VYCO SA