Home to the pacas coffee variety, it was in 1958 that the Salvadoran Institute for Coffee Research (ISIC) invested in developing what we now call pacamara – a cross between pacas and maragogype. El Salvador is famous for delicious pacamara coffees, but is also well-known for great specialty coffee in general. Blessed with optimal weather for drying coffee, the naturals from El Salvador are a particular highlight. Because of this, the Project Origin’s signature “Supersonic” profile was established in the Ahuachapán region with our friend Mauricio Salaverría, and the Carbonic Maceration Selections range expanded to Los Pirineos in Usulután.
🌤️ Weather has been very good for growing and maturing coffee cherries on the tree, and dry enough for the drying period. This country has seen enough rains despite the El Nino
🌱 Volumes expected are to be similar to last year’s harvest.
Pickers are scarce due to many leaving the rural/regional areas seeking better opportunities and pay, including moving internationally. Many farmers are reporting great concern over how they will sustain their farms, especially larger ones, because without pickers cherries fall to the floor and become losses. But pickers are demanding higher pay.
Simultaneously, the coffee market price has settled from its highs of the last few years and producers are squeezed in the middle.
Additionally, Mercon Coffee Group (one of the largest coffee exporting businesses worldwide) filing for bankruptcy has caused shockwaves across the industry. They provided lots of pre-harvest financing to producers against contracts of sale they had with buyers around the world. Their collapse leaves a huge amount of physical coffee with nowhere to go, driving supply of coffee up within El Salvador. But without a large scale exporter like Mercon to export and sell the coffee outside El Salvador it is very challenging to move that physical stock through existing channels. This leaves a lot of producers without any idea of how they can sell their coffee and at what price. When they have their own financing to repay, it is a precarious situation and ultimately means producers are selling early at whatever price they can get to have the assurance of hard cash rather than a promise of future payment from a buyer that may or may not ever eventuate.
When operating in a direct trade style, as Project Origin does with much of our supply from El Salvador, this squeezes the financing of coffees coming out of El Salvador. It means we must pre-commit to payment timeframes and have no leniency or ability to stretch them. That in turn means a higher cost of financing for Project Origin which will ultimately be reflected in the final price of these coffees to our customers.
🗓️ The following pricing guide refers to the 2024 crop.
🇺🇸 Please note all price indications are based on current market conditions as of 1st August 2023 with the NYC coffee market price at approximately US$1.65/lb.
✅ All prices will be reviewed at the time of sale or contracting.
💲Price range is based on volume contracted. Talk to the sales team for specific quotes for your business.
🇦🇺 Australia Sales (AUD)
Black label: $12.50 – 13.90/kg
Green label: $17.00 – 22.00/kg
Supernaturals: $24.00 – 32.00/kg
CM Selections: $30.00 – 45.00/kg
🌍 International Sales (USD)
Black label: $8.00 – 9.60/kg
Green label: $11.50 – 17.00/kg
Supernaturals: $15.00 – 20.00/kg
CM Selections: $24.00 – 40.00/kg
✉️ Expect samples to become available end of March, after Habib returns from origin with PSS options.
🚢 If seeking a direct shipment, dispatching earlier is better as producers want to move stock quickly and turn it into cash early to help the worker situation.
🗓️ Stock is available to ship from March.
🚢 Our first container out of El Salvador is expected to arrive around May 2024.
✅ We can share notes on available options from March/April 2024. Samples can be sent when available around the end of March/early April.
📦 We will be sourcing based on lot availability. EOI will be considered when finalising shortlists. We are expecting 1 container from El Salvador this harvest, most of which will be pre-sold prior to arriving. Any El Salvador needs should be discussed with Project Origin before end of March 2024 to be considered during our origin trip.
🗓️ Forecasting months are from January to March 2024 for the 2024 harvest, and your 2025 needs.
El Salvador has an extended harvesting period. The main harvest is from October to February and the late harvest extends from February to April. The late harvest often features beans that take longer to mature. Coffees will typically ship from each origin about 3-4 months after the harvest begins.
Reconocemos a los Dueños Tradicionales de la tierra en la que trabajamos, el pueblo Ngunnawal. Rendimos homenaje a los ancianos del pasado, presentes y emergentes.