The first place winner of the Cup of Excellence Contest was awarded to the Salvadoran El Topazio plantation. The auction will be conducted on June 4.
Of the 60 coffee samples that the contest began with, 33 lots were selected to participate in the auction which will seek to obtain good prices from international buyers.
Maria José Huezo, Cup of Excellence project coordinator, told Laprensagrafica.com that "this year, despite having received fewer samples from participating plantations, the quality improved and, therefore, she hoped to break the selling-price record for the lots of coffee again. Last year, the price per quintal of coffee was $2,010."
With an average price of $130.82 per quintal, the first six months of the 2008-2009 coffee year have left an accumulation of $101.4 million.
The value achieved per quintal ($130.82) in this coffee year that began last October is higher when compared to last year when it reached $127.47, according to the Salvadoran Coffee Council.
Keny López Piche wrote in Laprensagrafica.com: "CSC Forecasts indicate that production of Salvadoran coffee will be reduced by at least 5% this year, equivalent to about 150 thousand quintals less than those harvested in the previous coffee year. Overall, the country expects to produce 1.85 million quintals this year."
In the first four months of this current annual period for coffee growers (Oct.-Jan.), revenue was $43.8 million compared to $40.3 million last period.
Mipunto.com publishes in its website: "Salvadorian coffee is quoted currently at a price average of $127.4 dollars per quintal compared to $120.4 dollars that it was valued at last year."
High quality coffee generated $79.4 million in exports during the 2007-2008 harvest, a total of 2.1 million quintals.
According to news reports from elsalvador.com "Expectations for the 2008-2009 harvest is that special coffee exports will grow 30%, since as of December 31 thousand quintals compared to 118 thousand quintals of commercial coffee had been sold, reported Luis Rodriguez of the CSC."
During the first quarter of the 2008-2009 coffee year, export grew 10.9% in value and 2.2% in volume, compared to the same period in the previous cycle.
Elsalvador.com reports on its website "Earnings for the same period also increased 10.9%, from 20,540,546 dollars to 22,769,117 dollars, said CSC. During the three months that have passed in the current period, Germany has been the main buyer of Salvadoran coffee with 30.5% of the exports, followed by the United States at 23.8% and Japan at 12.9%."
El Salvadoran coffee exports in April, the 7th month of the new 2007-08 crop cycle, were up 55% to 214,696 bags (60-kilogram) bags, the Salvadoran Coffee Council said Thursday.
This compares to Salvadoran exports of 138,655 bags in April 2007 during the 2006-07 harvest year, the council said in a report.
Total exports from the beginning of the 2007-08 cycle on Oct.