Exporters

The work of the exporter has always been basically to purchase the coffee from the countryside either directly from producers and cooperatives or through brokers working to comprise a blend according to the customer preference and sell it to roasters abroad.

These “firms” as they have been referred to were structured into sectors, and there were a number of professionals in charge of the workflow of these exports, from the purchase of the coffee, quality check, storage and preparation of blends to the sale of the coffee, customs documentation handling and loading shipments at the port.

During the 19th and mid-20th centuries coffee exporters were mainly foreign concerns, such as Theodor Wille and Zerrenner & Bullow (Germans), and Americans as well as Johnston and Naumann Gepp (British) and Leon Israel and Hard Rand (Americans). Some of them even opened up branches in the countryside and operated as commission houses as well, financing producers and selling their coffee crops and even acquiring farms from owners who could not pay off their debts.

The number of domestically owned firms grew during the first few decades of the 20th century, however; exporting lower volume of the commodity than that of the foreign operations. Therefore the commission houses and exporters such as the Companhia Prado Chaves, Levy & Cia, and Lima Nogueira were regarded as “firms” which were in business in the Square. With the changes in the business dynamic and the finance system, some firms began engaging exclusively in export operations.

At the Sala de Café (grading and classifying) it was export coffee. Behind the “coffee room” there was an office where documentation, payment and other work was conducted. Only work related to the coffee market was performed there. This work encompassed quality, price, etc and follow-up on closed deals since reports on final purchases had to be prepared. Then samples had to be taken from storage, brought in and checked to make sure that what was bought is the same as the sample, and then it was paid for and became your property. After the coffee was purchased it was moved to the owner’s warehouse and we had our own storage facilities. Then you could go there with your own report already prepared.

José Moreira da Silva worked as a classifier and exporter at the company, Naumann Gepp and today has his own firm, called Jacutinga. Testimonial granted to the Coffee Museum in 2013.

For the most part, exports today are in bulk, followed by 60 kilo bags and then the third way is the big bag. However, bulk has been responsible for the largest portion of the market year after year and even smaller roasters are becoming mechanized to receive it in containers, but smaller importers still need to make blends from several origins and they cannot blend a container since it is too much volume so they still have to receive it in bags so then there is still a good portion of the market for coffee in bags.

Sérgio Hazan worked for his father’s brokerage firm in the 1980s and in 1991, began working at the exporter, Comexim, also owned by his family where he holds the position of Executive Director. Testimonial given to the Museu do Café in 2014.

You would purchase a quantity of coffee and then take a sample and send it to certain customers abroad which might buy that coffee. Then an auction would be held for it.

Afterward, the sales department which was a party to the contract with the customer, sold the coffee. This department then communicated the sales information to the export department which would register the sale at the IBC – the Brazilian Coffee Institute. The sale was recorded and then this department would prepare all the export documentation, shipping permits, approvals, certificate of origin and maritime authorization/bill of lading. This document was prepared in the export area where it prepared all prepared documentation, dispatched customs duties apportionment, coffee shipping, bill of lading, which is the most important document today which is the document that truly proves that you have shipped that batch of coffee. And with that document, you can prepare the invoice, as well as the documents that the importer requests and send them abroad to the customer. Normally it is forwarded through the bank. The customer requests that they be sent to the bank there where the bank receives the documents and notifies the customer that it has arrived. The customer pays it because the customer will need the bill of lading to enable it to remove the coffee from the ship when it arrives there. Then the customer does that and pays or the export is cancelled. To arrive there, there is the grading process. So then, based on the grading, or the sample from the producer itself, the customer receives the sample and grades it himself there and does the deal. Otherwise, the customer begins buying coffees from third parties, because the strength of exporters today, outside the cooperatives, which represent their business, but even cooperatives today buy coffee from third parties. Then this is the structure. It is sales department area, or an export department area, which does the documentation, and an area of the grading department that prepares the coffee before shipment. Then there was the coffee, sales, export, shipping and receipt. This is the coffee export cycle operation.

Antônio Carlos Cavaco worked in the administration of firms such as Prado Chaves and at the export office of the Cooperativa de Guaxupé. Testimonial granted to the Coffee Museum in 2013.