At the end of June, coffee imports decreased by 30 percent, compared to the same period of the previous year, according to the Federation of Coffee Growers. In a statement, they assured that the figures went from 141,000 bags in 2022 to 99,000 in 2023, 42,000 fewer bags. For its part, coffee production in Colombia increased by 1%.
Now, they report that the coffee growers will mobilize on August 17 in the city of Armenia, where coffee growers from seven departments will participate.
Among the concerns of the union, is what it considers as a lack of action, both by the National Government and the Federation, “in the face of the crisis they are going through”.
“Starting with a drop in the price, which today is below $130,000 Colombians, when taking production costs into account, the arroba of coffee is selling for almost $50,000 below the price,” said Duberney Galvis, Risaralda’s coffee representative. RCN Radiowho also constituted the day of mobilizations for August 17.
(You can read: The surprising benefit that espresso coffee would have to deal with Alzheimer’s).
They also point to the revaluation of the Colombian peso as another factor that has affected them, for which they are asking for a price determination that allows the product to be more profitable.
In the same way, he explained that the union is looking for a “solution to the crises of the coffee savings cooperatives, stop the massive imports of coffee that impact the price and the premium, reform the statutes of the Federation towards a truly democratic participation and stop the tax burden that falls on the coffee producer, among others”.
Given the announcement, it is expected that there will be a meeting before the mobilizations, on August 16, with government officials and that a National Coffee Committee will be held, which had already been postponed.
(Also: Coffee enemas: what they are and why there is controversy about their real effect on health).
These demonstrations would take place 10 years after a great coffee strike, registered in 2013. The leader said that they had reached an agreement with leaders from Quindío, Huila, Valle, Caldas and Antioquia and they had concluded that the circumstances now are very similar to the problems for which they claimed at that time.
ELIM J ALONSO
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