New Market Opportunities for Rwanda Coffee

The direct contact between coffee producers and exporters and coffee consumers and importers is one of the most important selling points in the trade of specialty coffees. Consumers like to know that their early morning cup comes from sustainable sources, and they are ready to pay a higher price if they know more about the farmers stories behind the coffee and are sure their cup of coffee was produced under safe and fair trade and working conditions. This is why ICU invites international coffee buyers to Rwanda for their project ‘A market driven approach for value chain improvements and the expansion of the Rwandan coffee market’.

In mid-2022, Mr. Alberto Polojac and a team from Imperator, an Italian Specialty Coffee buyer, visited coffee producers in Rwanda and met the National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB) to discuss opportunities in the Rwandan Coffee Sector.
Alberto took the opportunity to cup sixteen different samples from producers supported by the project and was so impressed by their superior quality that he took up direct discussion with the producers to negotiate the purchase of two containers of the season’s harvest.

^{Cupping session for sixteen samples from CWSs supported by ICU}

Photo Credit: ICU/MARKUP