All About Coffee Part 58

Trading methods between farmer and broker are not much more than the old system of barter. In the southwestern section, where the Abyssinian coffee grows wild, transport to the nearest trading center is by mule train, and not infrequently by camel back. In the Harar district, the women of the farmers living near Harar the market center, carry the coffee in long shallow baskets on their heads to the native brokers. In the more remote places the coffee farmer waits for the broker to call on him. From the town of Harar the coffee is transported by mule or camel train to Dire-Daoua, whence it is s.h.i.+pped by rail to Jibuti, to be sent by direct steamers to Europe, or across the Gulf of Aden to Aden in Arabia.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COFFEE-LADEN OXEN FORDING STREAM, COLOMBIA]

Ten different languages are spoken in Harar. In order successfully to engage in the coffee business there, it is necessary either to become proficient in all these tongues, or to engage some one who is.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TRANSPORTING COFFEE BY MULEBACK IN THE CITY OF CUCUTA, COLOMBIA]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Schooner from Encontrados to Maracaibo]

[Ill.u.s.tration: One of the lake and river steamers]

[Ill.u.s.tration: COFFEE CARGO CARRIERS THAT OPERATE ON LAKE MARACAIBO AND TRIBUTARY RIVERS]

[Ill.u.s.tration: DONKEY TRANSPORT TRAIN FOR COFFEE IN MEXICO]

[Ill.u.s.tration: COFFEE TRANSPORT IN MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA]

When the coffee is brought, partially cleaned, into Harar by donkey or mule train, it is first taken to the open air custom-house (coffee exchange) in the center of the town, where a ten-percent duty (in coffee) is exacted by the local government, and one Abyssinian dollar (fifty cents) is added for every thirty-seven and a half pounds, this latter being Ras Makonnen's share. As soon as the native dealer has released to him what remains of his s.h.i.+pment, he takes it out of the custom-house enclosure and disposes of it through the native brokers, who have their little "office" booths stretching in a long line up the street just outside the custom-house entrance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DONKEY COFFEE TRANSPORT ON THE WAY FROM HARAR TO DIRE-DAOUA]

There, a brokerage charge of one piaster per bag is paid by the buyer, and the coffee then becomes the property of the European merchant. In some cases it is put through a further cleaning process; but usually it is s.h.i.+pped to Jibuti or Aden uncleaned. Arriving at Jibuti, there is a one-percent ad valorem duty to pay. At Aden, there is another tax of one anna (two cents) to be paid to the British authorities.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COFFEE CAMELS IN THE CUSTOM-HOUSE, HARAR]

Since 1914, however, Abyssinian coffee has been exported largely through the Sudan, a much shorter and less expensive trip than that to Adis Abeba and Jibuti. Now the coffee is carried by pack-train to Gambela on the Sobat River; and thence by river steamer to Khartoum, where it is loaded on railroad trains and sent to Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

_Buying Coffee in Arabia_

Most of the coffee in Arabia is grown in almost inaccessible mountain valleys by native Arabs, and is transported by camel caravan to Aden or Hodeida, where it is sold to agents of foreign importing houses. Mocha, once the princ.i.p.al exporting city for coffee, was abandoned as a coffee port early in the nineteenth century, chiefly because of the difficulty of keeping the roadstead of the harbor free from sandbars.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SELLING COFFEE AT ADEN BY TAPPING HANDS UNDER COVER]

In Aden there is a kind of open-air coffee "exchange" (as in Harar) where the camel trains unload their coffee from the interior. The European coffee merchant does not frequent it, but is represented by native brokers, through whom all coffee business is transacted. This native broker is an important person, and one of the most picturesque characters in Aden. He receives a commission of one and a half percent from both buyer and seller. Certain grades of coffee are purchasable only in Maria Theresa dollars; so a knowledge of exchange values is essential to the broker's calling.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PACKING AND TRANSPORTING COFFEE AT ADEN]

In making coffee sales, the negotiations between buyer and seller are carried on by means of finger taps under a handkerchief. The would-be purchaser reaches out his hand to the seller under cover of the cloth and makes his bid in the palm of the seller's hand by tapping his fingers. The code is well understood by both. Its advantage lies in the fact that a possible purchaser is enabled to make his bid in the presence of other buyers without the latter knowing what he is offering.

_Buying Coffee in Netherlands India_

In the Dutch East Indies cultivation of _Coffea arabica_ has diminished, the decay of the industry beginning when Brazil and Central America became the dominant factors in the green market. Not so many years ago coffee growing and coffee trading were virtually government monopolies.

Under government control each native family was required to keep from six hundred to a thousand coffee trees in bearing, and to sell two-fifths of the crop to the government. It was also compulsory to deliver the coffee cleaned and sorted to the official G.o.downs, and to sell the crop at fixed prices--nine to twelve florins per picul previous to 1874, although forty to fifty florins were offered in the open market. Later, the price was advanced; until about 1900 the government paid fifteen florins per picul for coffee in parchment. All government coffee was sold at public auction in Batavia and Padang, these sales being held four times a year in Batavia and three times a year in Padang.

Coffee from private estates, not under government control and operated by European corporations or individuals, has now succeeded the government monopoly coffee. Private-estate crops are sold by public tender, usually on or about January 28 of each year. If the owners do not get the price they desire in Batavia or Padang, the coffee is sent to Amsterdam for disposal. Some coffees always are sent to Holland; because the directors of the company get a commission on all sales there, and also because the coffees are prepared especially for the Dutch market. The Hollander wants his coffee blue-green in color.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COFFEE CAMEL TRAIN ARRIVING AT THE HODEIDA CUSTOM-HOUSE FROM THE INTERIOR OF YEMEN]

[Ill.u.s.tration: LOADING BY THE OLD-STYLE HAND-LABOR METHOD]

[Ill.u.s.tration: HERE THE AUTOMATIC BELT POURS INTO THE HOLD A CONTINUOUS STREAM OF BAGS OF COFFEE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLD AND NEW METHODS OF LOADING COFFEE AT SANTOS]

_Loading Coffee at Santos_

In Brazil, when the coffee has been rebagged and marked by both the _commisario_ and the exporter, the coffee is again sampled. These samples are compared with those by which the purchase was made; and if right, the bags are turned over to the dock-master, who sets his laborers to work loading s.h.i.+p. Two methods are used at Santos. The old familiar style of hand labor is still in evidence--men of all nationalities, but largely Spaniards and Portuguese, take the bags on their heads and carry them in single file up the gangplanks and into the hold of the s.h.i.+p. The dock company, however, operates a huge automatic loading machine, or belt, which saves a great deal of time and labor. In other Brazilian ports all loading is done by manual labor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A COFFEE FREIGHTER ON THE CAUCA RIVER, COLOMBIA]

Recently, at the suggestion of the Commercial a.s.sociation of Santos, the minister of transport of So Paulo ordered that coffees destined for legitimate traders should be transported during four days of the week, and those of a speculative nature during the remaining two days. A premium of as much as five milreis a bag has been paid by speculators in order to obtain immediate transport.

_s.h.i.+pping Coffee from Colombia_

As Colombia ranks next to Brazil in coffee, a brief description of its transportation methods, which are unique, should be of interest to coffee s.h.i.+ppers. A goodly portion of Colombia's coffee exports comes from the district around the little city of Cucuta, whose official name is San Jose de Cucuta. It is the capital of North Santander, is situated in a beautiful valley of the Colombian Andes mountains that is watered by several rivers, and is only about a half-hour's ride by motor from the Venezuelan frontier.

Due to its geographical position, Cucuta serves as the most convenient inland port and commercial center for most of the department of North Santander. For the same reason, it is forced to depend on Maracaibo as its seaport, even though the Venezuelan government has a number of annoying laws controlling the commerce thus conducted. The Colombian ports of Baranquilla and Cartagena on the Atlantic are too distant from Cucuta to be available; and a large part of the traffic would have to be done on mule-back across one of the most formidable ranges of the Colombian Andes, involving high cost and delay in transportation. Yet its frontier position makes it possible for Cucuta to have important commercial relations with the neighboring republic of Venezuela, and to enjoy exceptional privileges from the Colombian central government.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COFFEE STEAMERS ON THE MAGDALENA, COLOMBIA]

A cargo of coffee leaving Cucuta has to go through the following steps on its way to a foreign market:

1. From Cucuta, it travels thirty-five miles by railroad to Puerto Villamizar, a Colombian river port on the Zulia river.

2. At Puerto Villamizar it is loaded into small, flat-bottomed, steel lighters that are taken to Puerto Encontrados by man power. Puerto Encontrados, belonging to Venezuela, is on the Catatumbo river; and the trip from Villamizar takes from two to four days, depending on the depth of water in the river. During high water, river steamers are also used, and make the trip in less than a day.

3. At Encontrados the cargo is loaded on river steamboats more or less of the Mississippi river type, which take it to Maracaibo, Venezuela.

Coffee is also carried to Maracaibo by small sailing vessels.

4. At Maracaibo it is taken by ocean vessel, which either carries it direct to New York or to Curacao, Dutch West Indies, where it is trans.h.i.+pped to steamers plying between New York and Curacao. It is obvious that the many trans.h.i.+pments that coffee coming from Cucuta has to undergo greatly r.e.t.a.r.d its arrival at a foreign port; and a cargo sometimes takes a month or more to reach New York.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLD AND NEW METHODS EMPLOYED IN LOADING HEAVY CARGO ON THE SANTA CECILIA]

Coffee from Cucuta is stored in the Venezuelan custom-house, from which it must be s.h.i.+pped for export within forty-five days, or the s.h.i.+pper runs the risk of having it declared by the Venezuelan government for _consumo_ (home consumption) at a prohibitory tariff. Arrangements can be made at considerable cost to have the coffee taken to a private warehouse; but it is no longer possible to make up the chops in Maracaibo, as was done formerly with all the Cucutas. The Venezuelan customs will not even allow the Maracaibo forwarding agent the same chops, as a general rule. Special permission must be obtained to change any bags that are stained or damaged. Schooners from Curacao have, in the past, carried a great deal of the Colombian coffee to Curacao.

_Port Handling Charges in Brazil_

It is almost impossible to list all the various charges for the handling of coffee at the port of s.h.i.+pment in Brazil, the figures not being accessible to outsiders. Some figures, such as warehouse charges and various forms of tax, are obtainable, however. For every bag of coffee which is in warehouse over forty-eight hours from the time of its arrival from the railroad there is a charge of two hundred reis (about five cents). In So Paulo there is an export tax of nine percent ad valorem levied by the state, and in Rio the state tax is eight and a half percent. Then there is a surtax of five francs per bag in Santos, and of three francs in Rio, which goes toward defraying the expenses of valorization. For every bag of coffee that pa.s.ses over the dock the dock company charges one hundred reis (about two and a half cents).

_Some Record Coffee Cargoes_

With its superior loading and s.h.i.+pping facilities Brazil has been able to send extraordinarily large cargoes of coffee to the United States since the development of large modern freight-carrying steams.h.i.+ps. While 75,000 or 90,000 bag cargoes were of common occurrence just prior to the outbreak of the World War, several s.h.i.+pments of more than 100,000 bags were made in the years 1915, 1916, and 1917. Up to January, 1919, the record was held by the steams.h.i.+p Bjornstjerne Bjornson which unloaded 136,424 bags at New York on November 17, 1915. Other s.h.i.+pments of more than 100,000 bags were by the Rossetti (December, 1900), 125,918 bags; the Wascana (March 3, 1915), 108,781 bags; the Wagama (October, 1916), 105,650 bags; the American (October 23, 1916), 124,212 bags; the Santa Cecilia (November 2, 1916), 105,500 bags, and the Dakotan (January 6, 1917), which carried 136,387 bags.