Cecafé highlights sustainability and diversity of Brazilian coffee farming in Italy

In March, the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafé) began, in partnership with the Brazilian Embassy in Rome and the Santos Coffee Museum, a series of promotional actions for the image of Brazilian coffee farming, focusing on sustainability, quality and diversity, in Italy, the fourth main buyer of the national product in the first two months of 2022.

Milan

On Friday, March 11, the entity's General Director, Marcos Matos, participated, in Milan, in a round table organized by the "Associazione Italia Brasile" together with the Embassy, ​​the Consulate General of Brazil in Milan and the Chamber of Italian-Brazilian Commerce of São Paulo (ITACALM).

To journalists and local partners, he highlighted Cecafé's role in maintaining high levels of Brazilian shipments even in times of pandemic and global logistics crisis. "Italians' acceptance of information about our sector and Brazilian coffees as a whole is very great, as is the knowledge they have. We explained our actions in respect of ESG criteria and this contributed to improving, even further, the product's image in the Italy", comments Matos.

The Executive Director of the Santos Coffee Museum, Alessandra Almeida, also participated in the event and explained that the institution receives around 350 thousand visitors annually, in addition to more than 100 thousand virtual visits and has approximately 150 thousand followers on social media.

She pointed out that, through research, exhibitions, temporary displays, cultural and educational activities, the Coffee Museum preserves and disseminates the history and traditions of Brazilian coffee growing, which are closely linked to Italy thanks to the intense immigration process that occurred in the centuries XIX and XX.

Alessandra also highlighted the repositioning to which the institution is dedicating itself, which foresees the rapprochement with all segments of the coffee production chain in contemporary times and the internationalization of its actions.

Rimini

Today, March 14, both institutions and representatives of national diplomacy in Italy participated, in Rimini, in "SIGEP The Dolce World Expo", the world's main B2B fair dedicated to the dessert and coffee foodservice industry, considered a meeting point for exchange of ideas, trends and visions, presented annually by experts and opinion leaders in the sector.

In a lecture given at the event, Matos presented an overview of the Brazilian coffee harvest, investments in research and technology and environmental and socioeconomic sustainability throughout the production chain. "We highlight all the work and investment that Brazil has made, increasingly sustainably and respecting ESG criteria, and the performance of our exports to Italy, with special emphasis on the advancement of sales of differentiated coffees, thanks to our growing and constant quality and sustainability, which attracted a lot of attention from those present", he reveals.

The director also presented Cecafé's Social Responsibility and Sustainability (RSS) projects, such as "Informed Producer" and "Coffee Child at School"; detailed the "Carbon Project", which is in the final stages of presenting results; social initiatives developed in partnership with the Global Coffee Platform and the National Pact for the Eradication of Slave Labor Institute (InPACTO) focused on good labor practices; and the "Café Seguro" program, with an environmental bias, more specifically focused on the issue of waste limits.

"All these initiatives express the concern we have with socio-environmental governance, without forgetting the economic side to all actors in the production chain, especially coffee growers. We are proud that Brazil is the world's largest passer of the Free on Board price to producers, with rates always exceeding 80% of the value received in exports", he highlights.

Florença

Next Friday, March 18, at the "Accademia del Caffè Espresso", in Fiesole, province of Florence, in Tuscany, the "Brazilian Coffee Day" will be held, when Cecafé, Embassy and Museum will inaugurate the exhibition “Viaggio nella terra del caffé", in an event that will feature seminars, such as "L'importanza del Museo per la conservazione della storia e per le riflessioni della società civile", with Alessandra Almeida, and "Il caffè brasiliano e il consumption in Italia", with Marcos Matos; tasting of Brazilian specialty coffees and chorinho musical performance.

The curatorship focuses on the historical collaboration of Italian immigration to the development of coffee farming in Brazil, presenting an overview of quality, sustainability and human development in coffee agribusiness. The exhibition is the result of the successful exhibition held in 2021 at the Brazilian Embassy in Rome, as a promotional activity in October, the month of International Coffee Day.

Matos considers that these promotional works carried out in Italy, in partnership with institutions and the Government of Brazil, are extremely relevant to further enhance the country's rich history of coffee growing and strengthen ties between the two nations. "Together, Cecafé, the Embassy of Brazil and the Coffee Museum, in actions like these, value our culture, the quality, diversity and sustainability of national coffees. We are valuing a history that continues to be written", he concludes.