Point of View
When the whole world expressly and firmly condemns your acts or is – at best – silent, and the only country supporting you is the authoritarian-ruled, semi-state Belarus, let’s just say you won’t be invited for coffee or tea anytime soon. Russia’s unprecedented and unprovoked landgrab of its neighboring country Ukraine immediately sent global stock markets crashing, oil prices soaring, and international backlashes lashing.
The coffee and tea industries will not escape unscathed, especially the tea exporters of India, Sri Lanka, and Kenya as exports to Russia and Ukraine are in doubt and even if they are allowed, how will payment be made if Russia is shut off from the global monetary system?
Here are some short and choice notes on what shape the Russian’s murderous invasion of Ukraine is taking in global coffee and tea written as it was just happening...
Coffee exports
Coffee Board of India reports that the war puts coffee exports to Ukraine in jeopardy. Ukraine which imported 6,604 tonnes of India coffee in this fiscal year so far. The Hindu reported that CIS countries are traditionally major importers of soluble coffee from India; 75% of India’s total soluble goes CIS countries with Ukraine alone taking 20%. Russia is one of the top 5 importers of Indian coffee overall.
Reuters reports that the price of Vietnam’s “domestic” coffee prices are dropping due to London ICE contracts going down and worries over whether Vietnamese exporters will be able to supply (and get paid for) deliveries to their big Russian customers.
Tea exports
Immediately, Indian tea exporters are reported to be scrambling to find alternative markets for their tea. Russia takes 20% of India’s tea or 37 million kg (The Hindu reports that total Russian tea imports are 142 million kg). Exporters are now leery of taking the risk of shipping: who knows if containers will reach their destination and how will anyone get paid with Russia cut off from the global banking?
The East African reports that Kenya’s US$87 million in exports to Russia (which includes tea) is at risk.
Economy Next says, “Sri Lanka’s tea sector is braced for a fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and sanctions which has led to a collapse of the Russian ruble as weekly auctions started early March.
Exhibitions
The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) announced that Russia will not be allowed to participate in any World Coffee Championships being held at its World of Coffee exhibition in Warsaw in June. They will also donate 100% of ticket sales revenues at the exhibition toward relief efforts to the Ukrainian coffee industry.
And we love the always charming Chanturiyas...Julia, David, and Ramaz – three leaders in the coffee and tea business of Russia, but, sorry to say, there’s zero chance of their annual Coffee Tea Cocoa exhibition – recently rescheduled to May – having any international participation. Let’s hope this aggression by Russia ends, peace is negotiated, and the coffee and tea industry will be able to support them in the near future.
Agricultural inputs
Russia and Ukraine together are leading suppliers of fertilizers and Russia just imposed a two-month bans on exports of the agricultural input. This will be more bad news for the Brazilian coffee business coming on top of a crop-ruining drought exacerbated by a much-too-wet growing season. Brazil is the leading importer of fertilizer from Russia and the world’s #1 coffee exporter. You do the math.
Coffeeshops and teashops
Starbucks announced the closure of its 130 outlets throughout Ukraine and Russia which are all franchisees, and account for less that 1% of the company’s global revenue. But they say they will “support” the 2,000 employees of the company that live in Russia.
It’s “New York’s most beloved and iconic restaurant” or so boasts the website of the Russian Tea Room, located adjacent to the famed Carnegie Hall on West 57th Street, New York City. Even though according to Wikipedia it was never really founded or owned by Russians (the website differs saying it was “founded” by Soviet defectors), and even though a pop-up on the restaurant’s website in Ukrainian flag blue and yellow “renounces Russia’s unprovoked act of war in the strongest possible terms”, customers are not listening: the Russian Tea Room is deadsville. But customers are flocking to Veselka, a legendary Ukrainian restaurant in New York City’s East Village
Maybe Russian Tea Room reboots as Ukrainian Tea Room? Just sayin’...
By Glenn Anthony John
Founding Editor/Publisher
STiR coffee and tea magazine
gaj@octobermultimedia.com