Coffee Year 2022/23 ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023, and at Ally Coffee we found ourselves busy with coffee, events, and community throughout the entire year. Our operation grew as we expanded our team, developed relationships with new coffee suppliers, and invested time into continuing to cultivate the strong existing relationships we’ve enjoyed with others for several years. The C Market price ultimately fell by more than $0.50 from October 1 to September 30, and global exports fell by more than 5% while costs of production remained high for many producers. Read on for a recap of the market year, and a look at some of what we’ve accomplished since last October.
The Global Market
C Market Analysis
Source: Tradingview
The C Market in Coffee Year 2022/23 (October 1–September 30) started at $2.20/lb, quickly reaching its high point for the year three days later as it briefly broke $2.26. This high mark was followed immediately by a precipitous fall, dipping to $1.54/lb by November 21. After trading between $1.54 and $1.74/lb into early January, the market reached its lowest point of the Coffee Year on January 11 when it fell to $1.42/lb at the end of nine straight days of price drops. This was followed by a 13 day rally, bringing the price up to $1.81. The market fell into the $1.60s in late June. Through the end of September the market did not close above $1.67 again, and finally closed trading for the year on September 29 at $1.46/lb, the second lowest closing price of Coffee Year 2022/23.
The Coffee Year started at $2.20 on October 3, 2022 and fell to $1.46 at its end on September 29, 2023. The C Market price dropped approximately 34% over the course of the last Coffee Year.
Global Coffee Industry Statistics
- The ICO Composite Indicator Price (I-CIP) averaged 151.94 US cents/lb in October, a 0.8% decline from September 2023. The I-CIP posted a median value of 151.58 US cents/lb, having fluctuated between 145.99 and 160.09 US cents/lb.
- Intra-day volatility of the I-CIP remained stable at 6.3% between September and October 2023.
- Certified stocks of Arabica continue to fall.
- Global green bean exports for Coffee Year 2022/23 were down 5.5% to 110.81 million bags from 117.28 million bags in Coffee Year 2021/22.
- Shipments of the Other Milds decreased by 12.1% to 22.11 million bags in Coffee Year 2022/23 from 25.16 million bags in Coffee Year 2022/21.
- Exports of the Colombian Milds dropped by 11.2% to 10.77 million bags in Coffee Year 2022/23 from 12.14 million bags in Coffee Year 2021/22.
- For Coffee Year 2022/23, South America’s exports of all forms of coffee decreased 11.0% to 50.59 million bags from 56.83 million bags in Coffee Year 2021/22.
- Exports of all forms of coffee from Africa decreased by 1.4% to 13.53 million bags in Coffee Year 2022/23 from 13.73 million bags in Coffee Year 2021/22.
- Mexico & Central America’s exports of all forms of coffee were down 3.1% to 15.3 million bags in Coffee Year 2022/23 from 15.78 million bags in Coffee Year 2021/22.
- In Coffee Year 2022/23 Asia & Oceania’s exports of all forms of coffee were down 0.9% to 43.56 million bags from 43.95 million bags in Coffee Year 2021/22.
- Green bean exports of the Robustas for Coffee Year 2022/23 were up 2.6% to 43.76 million bags from 42.66 million bags in Coffee Year 2021/22.
- World coffee production decreased by 1.4%, year-on-year, to 168.5 million bags in Coffee Year 2021/22; however, it is expected to bounce back by 1.7% to 171.3 million bags in 2022/23.
- World coffee consumption increased by 4.2% to 175.6 million bags in Coffee Year 2021/22. It is expected to increase by 1.7% to 178.5 million bags in Coffee Year 2022/23.
- As a result, under the current circumstances, the world coffee market is expected to undergo another year of deficit, with an estimated shortfall of 7.3 million bags in Coffee Year 2022/23.
Ally Coffee’s Market Year in Review
Coffee Year 2022/23 was a busy one for Ally, filled with coffee, events, and continued growth. Not only did we return to trade shows around the world, we were also able to participate in and facilitate a number of panel discussions and presentations highlighting our team, partners, and the work they’re doing throughout the industry. Further, our team has continued to grow and evolve as our operations in both importing and exporting countries have expanded, reaching an even greater number of people throughout the supply chain. Lastly, our Ally Open platform has seen major developments as we lean into emphasizing the education and community pillars of the initiative for an international audience while still delivering a wide spectrum of small box green coffees to US roasters.
Events
Industry events are some of our favorite happenings each year, giving us the opportunity to connect directly with producers, exporters, roasters, and more. This year was highlighted by major trade shows in some of our operating regions—including Specialty Coffee Expo in Portland, Oregon, World of Coffee in Athens, Greece, and Melbourne International Coffee Expo in Melbourne, Australia—as well as two installments of Producer & Roaster Forum hosted in El Salvador and Colombia, an event where we’re proud to be the Bronze Sponsor.
The Ally Coffee team at industry trade shows. Top left: Melbourne International Coffee Expo; Top right: Specialty Coffee Expo Portland; Bottom: World of Coffee Athens
Our 2023 event season kicked off at Producer & Roaster Forum El Salvador in San Salvador, where we hosted a cupping featuring offerings from our partners throughout Central America and had the privilege of presenting some of our sourcing philosophy in the lecture Curating Green Coffee: Matching Production with Consumption. Presented by former Specialty Coffee Sourcing Manager Bram de Hoog, this talk discusses supply and demand in the market, the many ways that people can value coffee, and the ways we can all work to ensure that every coffee finds the right roaster, and every roaster finds the coffee that fits their needs.
Specialty Coffee Expo came in April, and along with a full weekend at our booth on the show floor we were thrilled to co-host a panel discussion and cupping showcasing co-fermented coffees of Colombia with our friends and partners Clearpath Coffee. The panel, Infused Coffees from Producer and Consumer Perspectives, featured coffee producer Rodrigo Sanchez of Aromas del Sur, founder of Clearpath Coffee Vicente Mejia, Hub Coffee Roasters owner Mark Trujillo, Brandywine Coffee Director of Coffees Vic Scutari, and Ally Coffee COO Ricardo Pereira. The conversation explored the at times divisive topic of co-fermented coffees, highlighting the experience of people throughout the supply chain and how these coffees are impacting their role in the industry. This panel was followed the next day by a cupping featuring co-fermented coffees from both Rodrigo Sanchez and Julio Madrid (Cafe UBA, Risaralda, Colombia), where we were excited to taste the distinctive profiles achieved by these industrious producers.
Cupping coffee from some of our Colombian partners at Producer & Roaster Forum Colombia 2023
Producer & Roaster Forum Colombia brought our next opportunity for a panel discussion and a cupping featuring coffees from many of our Colombian partners. The panel discussion Bridging the Age Gap in Coffee Production: Success stories directly from origin brought together Julia Peixoto of the Peixoto family of coffee producers in Sul de Minas, Brazil, Lucas Cuadros of Unblended Coffee, Ally Coffee Creative Projects Manager Nick Castellano, and Ally Coffee COO Ricardo Pereira to talk about the growing generational divide in coffee production. With several perspectives—including Lucas as an importer, and Julia as a member of a multi-generational coffee farming family—this talk highlights how to close the divide and ensure a healthy future for coffee production for years to come.
Beyond these major industry events, accounts managers in every region hosted a wide collection of cuppings, bringing offerings from our producer partners directly to green buyers, roasters, and other coffee professionals. We look forward to continuing to host and attend events of all forms in the coming year.
Our Team
This Coffee Year was another year of change and growth for our team, including bringing in new account managers in several regions, bolstering our Asia Pacific and European offices with additions to our quality control team, and more. Each new member of the Ally Coffee team has added to our ability to connect with and serve partners and clients around the world, and we’re proud to continue growing to deliver on our purpose to move coffee forward. You can see our complete team now on our website.
Beyond the latest personnel additions to Ally, the year brought us the opportunity to open a brand new sourcing headquarters office in Medellín. Located in the heart of Antioquia, this new office keeps us close to many of our Colombian partners, and provides an updated space to host events, complete quality control, and fulfill our green coffee sourcing from this important coffee origin. We’re excited about all of potential in this new space, and can’t wait to discover the many ways it will help us grow our relationships with producers, exporters, and others throughout Colombia.
Sourcing
This year brought exciting developments in our Sourcing and Quality Control departments, and set the stage for even more to follow. Both departments saw new leadership as Gabriel Restrepo stepped into his new role as Specialty Coffee Sourcing Manager, and Mimi Borgskog took the reins as Global QC Coordinator, bringing even greater cohesion between our quality labs located in Europe, the United States, Australia, and throughout our sourcing offices in Colombia, Costa Rica, Brazil, and Ethiopia.
Specialty Coffee Sourcing Manager Gabriel Restrepo (left), Global QC Coordinator Mimi Borgskog (right)
Our sourcing operations in 2022/23 focused primarily on continuing to grow the relationships we have with producers and suppliers in our regular operating regions—including Brazil, Colombia, Central America, Ethiopia, and Thailand—while still growing our offerings with a new partner in Colombia and reintroducing Indonesian coffees to our offer list. In Colombia, we partnered with Pergamino Coffee for the first time, expanding our reach in Cauca, Tolima, and Antioquia through their network of smallholder producers in the regions. We also connected with Mandiri Kopi and Matahari Trading to source coffee from Indonesia for the first time since 2018/19, selecting a number of lots from the Aceh region of Sumatra for our Spot position. Beyond these new partners, we were glad to ramp up our sourcing efforts in Peru with several community lots, and to begin exploring a new origin for us in Ecuador, looking toward growing our offerings from South America.
Images from our new supplier partners. Top: scenes from the Aceh region of Sumatra; Bottom: images from a visit to Pergamino farms and facilities in Antioquia, Colombia.
We’re proud that our work at origin has continued to evolve beyond sourcing green coffee as we support and sponsor more producer-centric events year over year. The largest of these events is our ongoing Bronze Sponsorship of Producer & Roaster Forum, which hosts two events in producing countries each year. The introduction of the Ally Open Summit was another major development as we brought coffee professionals from both importing and exporting countries to Brazil for a two-day event at Fazenda Minamihara in Franca, São Paulo. It’s also been a privilege to be part of local quality contests like the AMECAFE Mantiqueira contest, now in its fourth year, which celebrates the work of women producers in Brazil’s Mantiqueira de Minas region.
Ally Open
Our Ally Open platform took major strides this year with a greater emphasis on education and community as significant pillars of the initiative. While green coffee is still at the heart of the operation, we’re thrilled to have found fresh opportunities to connect with our international audience in new and exciting ways.
We were thrilled to bring Ally Open to origin for the first time this year with our inaugural Ally Open Summit hosted at Fazenda Minamihara in the Alta Mogiana region of Brazil. The Summit was developed as the latest evolution of what was previously our annual Champ Trip, and provided an opportunity for champion competitors, coffee producers, and other esteemed guests from around the world to visit Brazil and connect with the nation’s coffee industry. The event was filled with panel discussions, presentations, cuppings, food, drink, and celebration, as we brought multiple areas of our industry together to connect, learn, and discover new ways to move coffee forward. You can revist all of the panel discussions on our YouTube, featuring trip attendees and Brazilian professionals discussing a number of ways that we as an industry can add value to coffee and lift up people throughout the supply chain.
Scenes from the inaugural Ally Open Summit
Launched on September 25, Rooted in Coffee is limited-time Ally podcast hosted by Creative Projects Manager Nick Castellano and Ally Coffee COO Ricardo Pereira. The show brings in expert guests from inside and outside of the coffee industry, highlighting issues with a focus on addressing the deeper causes and exploring potential solutions to the problems. You can find Rooted in Coffee on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube, and read an interview with Nick Castellano about the show and its origins in Barista Magazine.
Still central to our content at Ally Open is our ever-growing collection of articles on our Get Inspired blog, which continued to expand with a variety of publications this year. Along with regular origin reports and frequent producer features in our A Few Questions With... series, we were able to deliver a number of educational articles and origin features including:
- Coffee Processing, Washed, Natural, In-between, and Beyond
- Producer Insights: Infused and Co-fermented Coffees
- Green Coffee Purchase Planning Part 1 & Part 2
- El Puente – Building Bridges in Huila, Colombia
Coffee cherries being dried at El Puente in Huila, Colombia
We’re thrilled with how Ally Open has grown, and can’t wait to find even more ways to deliver small box green coffee to US customers, and educational opportunities and a growing community of coffee professionals to people around the globe.
Future Outlook for Ally Coffee
We’re looking forward to Coffee Year 2023/24 as we’ve already begun planning for coffees, events, and content that we can’t wait to share. The year will bring us back to major trade shows around the world, and will find us focusing even more on connecting with coffee professionals locally in their regions to meet people where they are.
Our sourcing efforts will continue to grow in 2023/24 under the leadership of Gabriel Restrepo, including strengthening our operation in Colombia and expanding our supply chain there, and sourcing even more from Peru as we look for new partnerships in regions outside of Amazonas and Cajamarca. We also aim to explore a number of new origins for Ally Coffee, including countries in South and Central America as well as Africa.
Be sure to reach out to your Account Manager or connect with us through our Contact Us page to start the conversation about your plans for the Coffee Year and how Ally can open up opportunities that move coffee forward for you this year.
