Local coffee producers struggling to keep pace with surging demand

The country is facing a challenge in meeting the increasing demand for coffee amid limited local production, the Philippine Coffee Board, Inc. said. Coffee Board president Pacita Juan shared that the country’s demand for coffee is around 150,000 to 200,000 metric tons (MT), however, local production is only at an estimated 30,000 to 33,000 MT.

“If we’re looking at attaining selfsufficiency [in coffee production and export], it might take 10 years, but those are very conservative figures,” Juan he told reporters.

The PCBI chief also estimated that the government might need to spend around ₱600 million a year in the next 10 years to attain stable coffee production, while the coco levy fund could be another solution to mend the large disparity between the industry’s demand and supply.

As the number of specialty coffee shops begins to rise at every corner of Metro Manila and beyond despite the low local production, imports make up a large percent of the overall production of coffee – approximately 120,000 MT.

Besides the large quantity of foreign supply, some coffee shops opt to buy imports like the Vietnam Robusta to minimize the business production cost, according to Juan.

But in order to balance the numbers between domestic and imported supply, PCBI Director Andy Mojica called the need for nursery expansion in the country.

“The problem with coffee production is that there is a need for ample seedlings… And the solution to this is to have nurseries at every region, as well as promoting the coffee farmers,” he said.

Subsequently, land area is also an issue when it comes to coffee farming. Since the field is limited and the trees require certain meters above sea level (MASL) to produce more supply while obtaining good quality, Mojica stated that the coffee board has been in talks with the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).

“If we partner with the PCA, we would be able to see almost 300,000 hectares of land area… So, the angle that we see here is that we could [intercrop] coconut and coffee,” he explained.

“PCA said that there are 1 million hectares of land readily available, so we could make programs for intercropping, which could be beneficial to both industries,” he added.