The Booming Coffee Industry and Those It's
Left Behind
“Roasting is the
most interesting point in the production process, not only for connoisseurs,
but also from a profit-margin perspective. It's here that cheap coffee beans
are turned into a sometimes-expensive consumer product. It is at this point in
the supply chain where value is added.
Brazil is the
world's biggest exporter of green coffee, the raw material that is eventually turned
into the coffee we drink. The country sells every kilogram that is laboriously
picked in the fields for $2.70. Germany, meanwhile, is the world's biggest
exporter of roasted coffee - and sells each kilogram for $6.21. That's a markup
of over 100 percent.”