‘Markets appreciate transparency and accuracy of Colombian coffee statistics’

• Having an institution such as the FNC contributes to consolidating figures, which help coffee producers compare their own productivity, notes Rodrigo Costa, Director of Commodities at Société Générale, headquartered in New York City.

Financial markets value the transparency and accuracy with which Colombian coffee production and export statistics are consolidated and communicated. This is possible thanks to the work of institutions such as the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC).

As Rodrigo Costa, Director of Commodities at Société Générale Corporate Banking and Investment, notes, this information is also useful for coffee producers because it helps them compare their own productivity.

“In Colombia, the FNC’s work helps tremendously in statistics. It’s an institution that consistently supports producers, encouraging, for instance, crop renovation. The FNC contributes to making data a better-quality universe by having more accurate statistics,” says Costa, who recently gave a lecture on the world coffee market at the FNC headquarters in Bogota.

The FNC compiles information on coffee production and exports, including volumes reported by other exporters. Additionally, the Coffee Information System (Sica) is a powerful tool, unique in its kind, to update, consolidate, and monitor geo-referenced information of Colombian coffee farming.

The expert noted that, when it comes to reporting statistics, Brazil faces the double challenge of having very extensive coffee plantations and lacking an institution that compiles information, such as the former Brazilian Coffee Institute (IBC).

“They don’t have the budget nor the necessary amount of people to visit the farms and verify production in detail; the margins of error are higher. At the time of the IBC, there were more accurate statistics,” Costa noted.

The expert acknowledged that in Colombia, a country that produces fresh coffee all year around, a culture of accumulating inventories is not common. In addition, he recognized the high-quality standards applied in Colombia to store coffee, which helps preserve it in good conditions for longer.

For Colombian producers, clear and reliable statistics are very helpful to measure their own productivity, the expert pointed out. “The more they know, the more equipped they are to make decisions, especially in productivity matters,” he concluded.