Sucafina Guatemala Managing Director Carlos Ordoñez. All images courtesy of Sucafina.
Multinational green coffee trading company Sucafina has launched a Guatemalan subsidiary called Guatemala Sucafina.
Longtime coffee sourcing and export professional Carlos Ordoñez, a past advisor to the Guatemalan national coffee association Anacafe and formerly of Mercon Guatemala, will lead the business as executive director.
“Over the past few years, businesses throughout the green coffee supply chain have been adversely affected by the unprecedented market conditions,” Sucafina said in an announcement of the launch. “Difficulties in production and demand shifts to more cost-effective origins have impacted Central America in particular. Many exporters in the region have withdrawn or have been forced to close.”
Current estimates place Guatemala somewhere between ninth and 11th in terms of global coffee production and exports. Like other coffee-producing countries in Latin America, Guatemala has suffered from rising costs of production, labor shortages and extended periods of price volatility in the free-market era.
Despite these challenges, Guatemalan coffee remains prized for its high quality and its range of coffee-producing regions with unique terroir and attributes. Supported by a robust national coffee association (Anacafé), a fresh brand identity for Guatemalan Coffees designed to promote international trade was launched in 2021.
According to Sucafina, the business strategy in Guatemala will focus on “supply chain management and long-term investment over opportunism and transaction.”
The Sucafina group, based in Switzerland, currently owns more than 20 subsidiaries operating throughout the coffee chain, with a particular focus on importing, exporting and trading activities. Sucafina’s North American business, established in 2017, currently boasts three United States offices: Brooklyn, New York; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Seattle. The company last year acquired U.S. importing company Sustainable Harvest.
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