Every Friday, Perfect Daily Grind rounds up the top coffee industry news from the week.
There have been some major leadership changes for some of the industry’s biggest players this week. Following continuous struggles with declining sales, in an abrupt but unsurprising move, Starbucks replaced Laxman Narasimhan with Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol. Similarly, JDE Peet’s interim CEO Luc Vandevelde stepped down from his role due to “unforeseen matters”, notably after the company’s stock has lost a third of its value since listing in 2020.
In other news, isolated incidents of frost in some of Brazil’s growing regions pushed coffee futures by up 6% on the ICE exchange. Although the cold snaps are so far less severe than those that took place in 2021, many producers are understandably concerned about how frost could impact harvests.
Lastly, at this year’s Best of Panama auction, a natural Gesha received a record-breaking bid of US $10,013/kg. Although this is only a US $8 increase on the previous world record from the 2023 auction, it’s a clear sign that high-end roasters are still willing to pay incredible prices for the variety. However, what’s nonetheless interesting is that Chiroso – an “up and coming” arabica variety – also set a high price, selling for US $1,630/kg.
Given that interest in this coffee has been growing for some time, coupled with the fact that BoP has come to influence the industry’s buying habits over the years, it seems likely that more interest in Chiroso from roasters and competitors will soon emerge.
Photo credits: Ádám Csordás
Want to keep up with current affairs in the coffee industry? Check out last week’s coffee news stories and make sure to read the latest Coffee Intelligence News & Opinion piece on why building a brand on winning CoE isn’t always guaranteed.
Passionate about music and coffee, not necessarily in that order. He has been writing about both, and many other things, since 2005.
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