São Paulo, December 20, 2018 – With the conclusion of its research, which lasted two years, Klabin presents to the industry the best packaging solution for specialty coffee, which outperforms the traditional jute packaging at a lower cost.

The bag produced by Klabin maintains the quality of coffee beans during long storage periods. After 18 months of storage, specialty coffees processed using the natural or unwashed method stored in high barrier paper packaging achieved the highest score in preserving the beans’ original characteristics, of over 82, while vacuum packaging scored 81 and jute 73, with the maximum score 100.

“Over the past few years, Klabin has performed countless tests to offer the market an extremely competitive and innovative product that better protects the product, better preserves the qualities of the coffee beans and provides important financial gains for the chain,” said Douglas Dalmasi, packaging director at Klabin.

In addition to proving a better option for preserving coffee for export, the package is more advantageous financially for the market compared to vacuum packaging. The coffee bags are fully recyclable and made from renewable natural resources, with the raw material originating from Klabin’s certified and planted forests.

Market

Brazil is the world’s largest coffee producer and exporter. The country cultivates two coffee species: coffea arabica and coffea canephora. The former is used in high-quality blends, while the latter (robusta coffee), known in Brazil as conilon coffee, is used by instant coffee producers.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (MAPA), the cultivation of coffee in Brazil covers 2.25 million hectares and involves 300,000 coffee growers in 1,900 municipalities. In 2017, 20% of Brazil’s coffee cultivation was estimated to be specialty coffee, which has grown 20% over the last five years.

According to estimates from the Brazilian Association of Specialty Coffee (BSCA), specialty coffee production has grown on average 15% per year over the past few years, reaching 8.5 million bags in 2017. Of this amount, the association estimates that 7.6 million bags are exported, mainly to the United States, Japan and countries Europe.