🌤️ Harvest is finishing this month. Very little rain this season including a period of drought, which means cherry maturation and growth was slightly stunted. This has impacted production for many producers, around 20-25% less production, with some producers sharing they have had 50% less production than they were expecting.

🌱 Volume expectations are TBD due to climate change impacts as well as economic issues. Whilst tree yield is reasonable for the producers we work with, the final harvested yield and quality will be determined, in part, by worker availability.

If workers and pickers are unavailable, producers will prioritise washed processed coffees over natural, as natural processes require more physical labour without the benefit of increased payment for the efforts compared to washed, which can have a much lower risk on the final quality and a price to match the effort.

See Political & Economical updates for more information.

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. In Nicaragua, they represented about 50% of all coffee being exported. 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 Nicaragua. But without a large scale exporter like Mercon to export and sell the coffee outside Nicaragua 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 Nicaragua, this squeezes the financing of coffees coming out of Nicaragua. 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: $11.50 – 13.00/kg

Green label: $17.00 – 22.00/kg

Supernaturals: $22.00 – 28.00/kg

CM Selections: $28.00 – 32.00/kg

🌍 International Sales (USD)

Black label: $7.50 – 9.00/kg

Green label: $11.50 – 15.00/kg

Supernaturals: $19.00 – 22.00/kg

CM Selections: $22.00 – 29.00/kg

✉️ Some pre-shipment samples for the 2024 crop can be expected around of March. Our sourcing team will be travelling this origin through March to shortlist the samples to be sent to Australia. 

🚢 Shipping the 2024 harvest will be available from around March 2024. Producers are requesting containers move quickly to assist with the struggles of workers. 

🚢 Shipping the 2024 harvest will be available from around March 2024, with our first container due to arrive in April/May for Bridazul lots, and all labels (Black, Green, CM, Supernatural).

✅ 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 2 containers from Nicaragua this harvest, most of which will be pre-sold prior to arriving. Any Nicaragua needs should be discussed with Project Origin before end of February 2024 to be considered during our origin trip. 

🗓️ Forecasting months are from January to March 2024 for the 2024 harvest, and your 2025 needs.