Yunnan coffee beans are unsalable or lack of false information, which makes farmers at a loss.

Every reporter Cao Shengyuan from Pu 'er, Yunnan

During this period, the temperature in Pu 'er, Yunnan, was as high as 30℃. Many local coffee farmers, like this weather, are a little hot, because they are reluctant to sell and hoard a large number of coffee beans at the beginning of the year, and a few days ago they encountered "old partners" Nestle announced that they would stop collecting.

Why does Nestle, who has worked with farmers for many years, do this? What is the reason? Why are farmers reluctant to sell hoards? Recently, the reporter of "Daily Economic News" conducted an in-depth investigation in Pu 'er and found that slow sales or false images were behind them. What further highlighted was the confusion of coffee farmers about pricing.

It is reported that at present, the coffee output of Pu 'er City is 28,000 tons, accounting for half of the country's output and planting area, accounting for more than 90% of Yunnan Province. Yunnan is currently the largest coffee bean production base in China, accounting for more than 98% of the coffee beans produced in China.

False sales?

"I waited 4 days at the door of Nestle (acquisition station) to sell my goods, and I had to spend 800 yuan on tractor transportation for 4 days waiting for delivery." Pu 'er City Nanping Town Nandaohe Village Kannong Lao Wang shook his head and said.

Lao Wang was lucky. Many coffee farmers had spent hundreds of yuan on transportation fees, but they still could not sell their coffee beans in the end. They could only take them home and wait for notification.

The tension among farmers stems from Nestle's "Notice on the End of Procurement" posted at the gate on March 26. The reporter of "Daily Economic News" saw the "Notice" still posted on the bulletin board, saying that Nestle will close the procurement station on March 31. Therefore, the day before Nestle temporarily stopped purchasing, Yunnan Pu 'er National Grain Reserve (Nestle Coffee Purchasing Department and its warehouse are located in the reserve) has not seen a 100-meter-long delivery team. After registering relevant information according to Nestle requirements, farmers wait for acquisition notice.

However, at nearly 6 o 'clock in the afternoon of March 30, Lao Xiong in Dakaihe Village, Nanping Town, Pu' er City received a text message from Nestle Coffee Purchasing Station."Nestle has purchased about 9000 tons of coffee in record amount this purchasing season. Considering the special situation of this year's market, we are having difficulty communicating with all parties to solve difficulties and problems. We will give you more information after Qingming Festival next week." At present, each village has counted the number of undelivered goods.

"If an uninformed person saw the delivery scene, they would definitely think that Pu 'er coffee was on sale." "In fact, we and some local coffee companies are still receiving coffee beans from coffee farmers," said the head of the coffee division of Aini Group, another international coffee giant's local partner in Pu 'er, pointing to trucks still unloading.

In his view, this so-called stop or seemingly slow sales, can be called "false phenomenon,""This year's coffee market by the international economic market downturn, Prices high and low go, And coffee farmers still follow last year's experience of low open high go, The hands of coffee beans are hoarding up."

He told reporters that in recent days the company has received an average of about 100 tons of coffee beans a day, compared with an average of only about 50 tons a day for a period of time before.

It wasn't until Nestle announced that it would stop buying that farmers began to get nervous and flock to Nestle's purchasing stations. The normal coffee purchasing season is from the end of October of the first year to April of the second year. According to the general situation, coffee farmers will choose to sell their coffee beans in batches during this time. However, because these purchases are concentrated in the past month or two, Nestle's warehouse storage is limited, and Nestle has also acquired a considerable amount of coffee beans before, so the sudden increase in coffee beans cannot be fully digested. Therefore, coffee beans that cannot be purchased can only be registered first, and then purchased separately after Qingming.

However, this is not the case in Yunnan Province coffee association vice president Dong Zhiping, he visited the main producing areas after a post said, As of March 29,"Nearly 40,000 tons of coffee beans are still in the hands of sellers (including coffee farmers, coffee producers, traders, speculators), Nearly half of the time, And sales only 30%."

Prices fall back 3 years ago

Price has also become one of the triggers for collective delivery of coffee farmers.

Yunnan coffee planting type is small coffee, in the national scope, suitable for planting this coffee mainly in Yunnan, Hainan and Guangdong provinces, but by the end of 2009, Guangdong has no coffee planting, Hainan only planting area of 2600 mu, output of 440 tons; Yunnan is currently the country's largest coffee bean production base, accounting for more than 98% of China's coffee beans.

Whether it is Nestle's purchase price or Aini Group's purchase price, its trend is basically based on the price trend of international coffee futures.

Arabica coffee futures soared in 2011, hitting a 35-year high in May of that year. At that time, the purchase price of Yunnan local Arabica coffee beans once soared to a high price of 41 yuan/kg. Arabica futures on the nyse are down about 40% since may 2011.

Up to now, the purchase price of coffee beans has stabilized at about 20 yuan/kg, and this price is close to the price at the end of 2009. According to public information, at that time, Yunnan Province Coffee Industry Association reported that the guidance price for purchasing Yunnan small coffee beans was 19.8 yuan/kg.

Coffee prices have been on a rollercoaster ride in recent years, climbing to highs in mid-2011 and falling rapidly, and farmers seem to have returned to three years ago overnight.

For the current price, Hu Lu, deputy secretary-general of Yunnan Province Coffee Industry Association, told Daily Economic News that the price of about 20 yuan/kg is a reasonable price, and the price of 41 yuan/kg in 2011 is difficult to encounter.

The purchase price is not much different, but in the view of farmers, there is a big gap between the end of 2009 and the current planting cost. In recent years, both the labor cost of picking and the transportation cost of coffee have increased to varying degrees. The old bear pointed at the coffee trees planted in front of his house and on the nearby hills and smiled bitterly."The coffee beans haven't been sold yet. I don't know where to find the money to buy fertilizer."

Lack of information leads to confusion among farmers

It is understood that Nestle sends the latest purchase price to coffee farmers twice a week at Pu 'er coffee purchasing station. It's not just Nestle. Three years ago, the Yunnan Province Coffee Industry Association began to give industry guidance prices based on New York coffee futures market prices. At the same time, the price situation will also be sent to relevant enterprises or relevant industry associations in a timely manner. However, this information cannot be fully transmitted to the farmers on the production line.

This phenomenon, on the one hand, is caused by the wait-and-see mentality of coffee farmers, on the other hand, because the price fluctuation information conveyed every day does not actually give much guidance to coffee farmers.

"We don't know how the price will change, or according to last year's low and then high purchase price as a guide, so at the beginning of the year 31 yuan per kilogram did not sell." Speaking of the 3 tons of coffee beans still stored at home, Lao Wang, one of the suppliers of many Nescafe purchasing stations, looked regretful and anxious."Who knows that the price is getting lower and lower? If this goes on, there should be no possibility of going up again."

Hu Lu said,"Some farmers in Pu 'er City rely too much on Nestle and haven't asked much about local enterprises. At present, we hope that these coffee farmers can actively contact local coffee enterprises in order to find better income."

In the investigation process,"Daily Economic News" reporter found that coffee farmers can not get relevant industry information in time, resulting in the result is that some coffee farmers grow coffee. Some coffee farmers who are willing or have some time to understand the price trend of coffee also can't know the price trend because they don't have access to the Internet, or they know that the news has lagged behind.

The "early stop" incident triggered by Nestle made farmers realize that they should face the market with a mature mentality. It is precisely because of the existence of speculative psychology this year that many farmers failed to deliver goods at a reasonable time, resulting in Nestle's "early stop" that caused such tension and affected the income of many farmers.

"We hope that in the future, relevant government departments or industry associations can convey relevant information to farmers, so that this situation will not result." Old Wang sighed and said.

China Coffee Trading Network: www.gafei.com