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Edgar Munn, a coffee buyer from the family that built Mavis Bank Coffee Factory, MBCF, will visit Jamaica next month with the goal of securing more beans for processing and sale in the United States, the country’s second-largest coffee market.
“I’ve always believed in the power of relationships in business,” said Munn. Building direct connections with the growers is vital, he told the Financial Gleaner in an interview.
Munn, the principal of Atlanta-based Blue Mountain Coffee Inc, BMCI, sells about half of the Jamaican coffee exported to the US.
His intent is to solidify supply-line relationships to grow the brand in the US, the world’s largest economy.
Currently, the majority of Jamaica’s coffee is sold to Japan.
“With BMCI’s sales growth continuing, this trip will ensure a continued growing supply as BMCI opens new sales avenues for Jamaica’s coffee industry, especially in expanding Blue Mountain coffee’s reach,” he said.
Jamaica exported US$27 million worth of coffee to foreign markets in 2023. Japan took more than US$15 million, followed by the US at US$4.6 million and China at US$2.6 million.
BMCI imports “four container loads a year of Jamaican coffee”, Munn said.
That amounts to 120 tonnes annually, which is small relative to Jamaica’s total crop, which was last estimated at 8,100 tonnes, according to the Economic and Social Survey Jamaica report produced annually by the Planning Institute of Jamaica.
BMCI buys green unroasted beans in bulk at about US$15 per pound. They then roast the beans in the US and package them for customers who pay between US$40 and $80 per pound for the finished product. The end price reflects the premium nature of the Blue Mountain coffee brand.
“Our customers understand that they’re paying for exclusivity and quality, and our job is to ensure that the product lives up to that promise,” Munn said.
A century ago, the Munn family had deep roots in Jamaica’s coffee industry. Victor and Edna Munn, Edgar’s grandparents, reportedly founded Mavis Bank Coffee Factory, one of the oldest coffee factories on the island. Over time, the family sold the factory to the Government, which eventually divested it to the private sector.
Despite selling the factory, the Munn family continued purchasing beans exclusively from Mavis Bank Coffee Factory Limited but processed the coffee themselves under their own operations in the United States.
At one point, the Munn family was buying US$2 million worth of beans from Mavis Bank, annually. Over time, BMCI diversified and started buying coffee from other traders.
“It was a difficult decision,” said Munn. “But in retrospect, it was the best decision I made,” he asserted.
The shift allowed Munn to diversify his product offerings, working with up to eight producers, and aligning with consumer preferences for small farms and personal stories behind their coffee.
Munn’s business has flourished since the pandemic reset, which shut down trade and travel for months in 2020. Sales have doubled over the past five years from 2019’s pre-pandemic base levels. He attributes the rise to the marketing and operational abilities of his business partner and former banker, Chuck Holmgreen, who joined the business in November of 2018.
“We receive a wonderful product from Jamaica. Over the years, we’ve perfected the roasts, and Holmgreen is doing a wonderful job of bringing in new customers,” he said.
During the interview with Munn, done via telephone, he sometimes paused to deal with customers.
“I personally sold five pounds of coffee to people walking in,” he remarked, after returning from his coffee store.
Those sales were not Jamaican beans. They were sourced from Central America. Munn’s operation primarily sells Jamaican coffee, which accounts for 90 per cent of his products, with the remaining 10 percent sourced from 13 markets, primarily Guatemala, Colombia, Kenya, and Costa Rica. He notes that the variety of offerings has strengthened his business, especially as consumers become more interested in the origins and stories behind their coffee.
“We ship primarily by USPS Priority Mail, which is typically delivered in two to three days. If you order today, we roast it by tomorrow and ship it immediately,” he said. USPS is the United States Postal Service.
The global coffee industry has seen significant challenges in recent times. Most recent United Nations trade data shows that commodity coffee exports have declined to US$42 billion in 2023 from US$46 billion in 2022.
Coffee heavyweights, including Colombia, dipped by one-third, Kenya by 20 per cent, and Brazil by 14 per cent.
In Jamaica, however, export sales rose 18 per cent to US$27 million in 2023, up from US$23 million in 2022. But producers have cautioned that the 2024 crop may shrink due to alternating droughts and heavy rains.
Coffee crop damage from Hurricane Beryl in July was minimal.
English (US) ·