| Without disclosing quantity sourced from India, Dr Andrea illy, Chairman and CEO of illycaffe, said "The company has been sourcing coffees steadily from India. In the last two years, we have bought between 7 to 10 per cent of the total Plantation A beans exported." |
| India's Plantation A exports in 2006 has been around 16,000 tonnes and in 2007 it is 18,000 tonnes. |
| Despite stiff pricing, the company's sourcing remains the same. "By partnering with growers, we continue to work closely with them to produce the finest Arabica coffee. Our aim is to encourage coffee growers to produce the best Arabica quality in all the countries we buy our raw material including India, whose coffee represents an important part of our blend," said illy. |
| Company's engagement and sourcing from India is reaching the same level that of south American countries. illycaffe currently works with over 4,000 coffee growers spread across Brazil, Central America, Africa and India. |
| "We select growers, we transfer them our know-how and techniques and we pay a premium and sustainable price which ensures growers always make a profit," he said. |
| "If we compare India to Brazil, we can see that in both countries we have created a quality award to encourage and motivate producers to constantly try to improve their crops and coffee quality and we have seen that this year," he added. |
| Also the company has developed a University of Coffee in India to improve the methods of harvesting, curing, processing and packaging like the way it has transformed in few south American countries. |
| "This year the Università del caffè of Bangalore trained nearly 200 participants under the various programmes on subjects that ranged from cupping /tasting / roasting exercises at the indoor programmes to pest control, quality and pulping in the field programmes," he said. |
Top Section
Explore Business Standard