Reports CTRM for Agricultural and Soft Commodities | Page 37
CTRM for Ags & Softs
raked and turned through the day and covered at night, or if it rains, to stop them from getting wet. Depending on
the weather, this process canlast several weeks for each batch of coffee. When the moisture content of the
cherries drops to 11 percent, the dried cherries are moved to warehouses where they are stored.
The Wet Method- In wet method processing, the pulp is removed from the coffee cherry after harvesting and the
bean is dried with only the parchment skin left on.This is done by firstpassing the cherries through a pulping
machine where the skin and pulp is separated from the bean.The pulp is then washed away with water.
The beans are separated by weight as they are conveyed through water channels, the lighter beans floating to the
top, while the heavier, ripe beans sink to the bottom.Next, they are passed through a series of rotating drums,
which separate them by size. Then, the beans are moved to water-filled fermentation tanks where they remain for
anywhere from 12 to 48 hours. This process removesthe parenchyma layer that is still attached to the parchment.
When fermentation is complete, the beans are rinsed by being sent through additional water channels.They are
then ready for drying, either by sun or machine to reduce moisture to approximately 11 percent, in order to
properly prepare them for storage.Once dried, these beans, referred to as 'parchment coffee,' are warehoused in
sisal or jute bags until they are readied for export.
Before export, the parchment layer (endocarp) is removed and optional polishing is performed to remove any silver skin
that remains on the beans.
Prior to export, the coffee beans are more precisely sorted by size and weight and evaluated for color flaws or other
imperfections.Typically, bean size is represented on a scale of 10 to 20 representing the size of a round hole’s diameter in
terms of 1/64s of an inch, and theyare sized by being passed through a series of different sized screens. They are also
sorted pneumatically by using an air jet to separate heavy from light beans.Next,sub-quality beans are removed either by
hand or occasionally using a special machine. Beans of unsatisfactory size, color, or that are otherwise unacceptable, are
removed.
The milled beans, referred to as 'green coffee,' are then ready to be loaded onto ships for transport to the importing
country.Green coffee is shipped in either jute or sisal bags that are loaded into shipping containers or bulk shipped
inside plastic-lined containers. Approximately seven million tons of green coffee is produced worldwide each year.
Coffee is repeatedly tested for quality and taste in a process known as 'cupping'. First, the taster, or cupper, carefully
evaluates the beans visuallyand then the beans are roasted in a laboratory roaster, ground and infused in boiling water.
The cupper will perform several tests on the coffee including "nosing" it to experience its aroma and tasting it.Samples
from a variety of batches and different beans are tasted daily.An expert cupper can taste literally hundreds of samples of
coffee a day and yet still taste the differences between them.
Roasting transforms green coffee into the aromatic brown beans that everyone is familiar with either as whole beans or
already ground. Most roasting machines maintain a temperature of about 550 degrees Fahrenheit, and the beans are
kept moving during roasting to keep them from burning. When the beans reach an internal temperature of about 400
degrees, they begin to turn brown, and the caffeol, or oil, locked inside the beans begins to emerge.This process is called
pyrolysis, and it is what produces the flavor and aroma of the coffee.Roasting is usually done in the importing countries.
Coffee Trading
Coffee is the second most commonly traded commodity in the world measured by monetary volume, behind crude oil as a
source of foreign exchange to developing countries, according to the International Coffee Organization. Coffee futures
and options are traded in New York on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE, formerly the New York Board of Trade). The
contract prices physical delivery of exchange-grade green beans from one of 19 countries of origin in a licensed
warehouse to one of several ports in the United States and Europe. London coffee futures are traded on the
Euronext.liffe. Other international exchanges that trade coffee futures include the Singapore Commodity Exchange
(Robusta), the Commodities & Futures Exchange (BM&F) in Brazil (Arabica) and the Tokyo Grain Exchange (Arabica and
Robusta).
Like other Soft Commodities,coffee has a number of specific characteristics on the physical and the trading side such as
origin, screen sizes or the amount of black and broken beans. Also quality parameters such as grades, certifications and
flavor patterns are important in the physical trading side. Terminal markets are often denominated in different units of
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