Submitted by: Submitted by cidretoday
Views: 305
Words: 301
Pages: 2
Category: Business and Industry
Date Submitted: 11/20/2011 08:36 AM
The current world agribusiness scenario displays the crisis in the coffee economy
brought about by the historical decline of international coffee prices and resulting
instability and distress of the economic agents in the pertinent production chains.
The diminished value of the product is mainly due to the existing imbalance
between demand and supply in the international markets, caused by a gradual and
continuous increase in coffee production throughout the world, particularly the new
coffee exporting countries entering the international market.
The increasingly competitive coffee market demands that the economic agents
implement new strategies aiming at meeting the demands of coffee consumers
worldwide. In such an environment, competitiveness is not enhanced only by offering
lower prices but, rather, by a combination of price and quality.
The Brazilian coffee agribusiness is necessarily immersed in this very
competitive environment and, therefore, is undergoing deep structural changes. Firstly,
it should be emphasized that the deregulation of the coffee market in Brazil increased
the interaction between the national coffee industry and the dynamics of international
markets as a result of the prevailing hands-off stance of the government, particularly
regarding planning and commercialization.
Secondly, the development and implementation of new technologies have
enabled a marked increase in the Brazilian coffee bean production, which explains the
paradox between increased coffee production and diminishing coffee areas in the
country.
Coffee bean yields per unit area can increase as a function of various factors,
such as climate and soil conditions, among others. Coffee productivity in Brazil, on the
other hand, has steadily and comprehensively risen as a result of changes in the
technology base of the coffee bean production sector.
According to CECAFÉ statistics, for example, bean productivity increased by
76.1% from 1990 to 2000, or 5.1%...