Institutional

DISCOVER ABICS

Since 1972 representing the instant coffee industry in Brazil.

DISCOVER ABICS

Since 1972 representing the soluble coffee industry in Brazil.

The Brazilian Soluble Coffee Industry Association – ABICS was founded in 1972 to bring together the 11 soluble coffee industries that existed at the time. At that time, the coffee economy was heavily regulated by the state, through the Brazilian Coffee Institute (IBC), so it was imperative and necessary to create an entity to represent the interests of the soluble coffee industries to act as an interlocutor with governments and the aforementioned authority.

At the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, with the changes in the Brazilian economy and the reduction of state regulation in the coffee market, the end of the International Coffee Agreement (ICA) in 1989 and the extinction of the IBC in 1990, it was necessary to rethink the role and activities of ABICS.

Both the companies and the Association had to redirect their strategic and institutional behavior in the dialogue with society and the State, moving from a short-term vision to the definition of medium- and long-term strategies, representing the sector before government and private institutions and together with the domestic and foreign markets.

Over the course of its history, it has seen 18 soluble coffee industries flourish. Over time, these industries have become extinct due to a lack of competitiveness and the ability to financially withstand periods of unbalanced coffee prices, predominantly for canefora coffees (80% of the raw material required, the other 20% being arabica coffees), since, at certain times, Brazilian coffee becomes much more expensive than that produced in competing countries.

One way to mitigate this situation would be to import beans from these countries in “drawback” operations, keeping the regular supply of Brazilian industries on an equal footing with international industries, which naturally have access to the production of raw materials from competing nations.

As there was a paradigm in Brazil of not being able to import coffee beans, much more due to political pressures than technical ones, many companies, in order to honor their supply contracts, had to make serious losses by acquiring more expensive raw materials, which, once processed, were destined for the markets that had actually bought the product. It is worth noting that soluble coffee and its derivatives are generally sold with terms that vary between four and 18 months ahead.

This caused the sector to shrink gradually, and in 2015 there were only five large industries, all strongly consolidated, with more than 50 years of existence: Nestlé, Cia. Cacique, Cia. Iguaçu (now IGC), Cocam and Realcafé, which, due to their conglomerate profile, had greater financial flow capacity to deal with occasional periods of price imbalance.

In 2017, ABICS, with a great deal of technical and political coordination and a great deal of dialog, managed to get imports of canefora coffees from Vietnam released, whose imports are made on a very occasional basis, under a “drawback” regime, and for the preparation of blends that serve the market.

With the crises caused by the cycles of price imbalances and fierce competition from new factories being set up around the world, the remaining industries have adopted specialization as a survival strategy and have thus consolidated their position as major global suppliers of soluble coffee as a bulk raw material for a multitude of brands spread across the four continents.

Between the 1960s and the mid-1990s, most Brazilian soluble coffee was exported under the processors’ own brands – such as one of the best known worldwide, Pelé coffee – and bulk shipments amounted to less than 30%. However, competitive pressures and the ease with which new local competitors could distribute in their regions of influence severely compromised the competitiveness of Brazilian products packaged and ready to be sold to consumers.

Faced with this scenario, Brazilian industries have gradually specialized in supplying bulk soluble raw materials, extracts and concentrates, modernizing their production plants, producing the most varied types of beverages demanded by importers, incorporating various international certifications and more aggressive and daring commercial strategies.

Although Brazil has lost added value in supplying ready-made products due to a lack of competitiveness – today, less than 10% of exported products are filled in ready-made packaging with the industries’ own brands – the sector has become efficient and competitive in supplying bulk products, a strategy that has proved to be the right one and which keeps Brazil at the forefront of the sector worldwide, despite facing threats that need to be mitigated.

ABICS represents 100% of Brazil’s soluble coffee production, with seven companies and eight production plants in its membership, which form the largest soluble coffee manufacturing complex in the world and have the capacity to process up to 132,000 tons per year. ABICS’ membership includes all the industries in the segment after the only small-scale soluble coffee manufacturer in Brazil, Café Campinho from Minas Gerais, joined in 2017 and, as of 2021, OFI, a multinational company from the OLAM group, started its soluble coffee manufacturing activities in May 2023.

In the last four years, the sector has invested around R$2.3 billion in technological improvements and production expansion. These investments have helped Brazil to maintain its position as world leader in production and exports, with destinations in more than 120 countries over the last 10 years, providing more than US$700 million in foreign exchange by 2023.

In the last four years, the sector has invested around R$2.3 billion in technological improvements and expanding production. These investments have helped Brazil to maintain its position as world leader in production and exports, with destinations in more than 120 countries over the last 10 years, bringing in more than US$ 700 million in foreign exchange by 2023.

Soluble coffee is the 13th most exported product in Brazilian agribusiness. It is a predominantly exporting industrial park – 80% of what it produces is exported – competing with industries from all over the world, maintaining a stable export market share of between 14% and 16% of the world total, largely due to the recognition and tradition of its ability to honor its contracts, with guaranteed supply and quality, even attested to by various international certifications.

In 2015, together with the sector’s industries, ABICS drew up a strategic plan called the “Brazilian Soluble Coffee Development Plan”, the aim of which was to increase exports by up to 30% over the next 10 years – provided that national and international conditions did not generate complications that would affect structural issues, including the viability of drawback and the practice of more effective commercial and promotional strategies – with the challenge of reaching US$ 1 billion in foreign currency exports for the country.

In terms of institutional representation of the sector, ABICS works and manages jointly with SINCS – the National Union of Soluble Coffee Industries, operating from the same address and headquarters, located in the building of FIESP – the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo. This proximity to FIESP provides the segment with a great deal of traffic in representing the interests of the industries in the state and, nationally, through the CNI – National Confederation of Industry, where ABICS is part of various discussion forums.

The Association is also active in the public image of the soluble coffee production chain, establishing channels of communication with other sectors of the economy, the media and society. It also suggests and supports policies for investment in coffee technology to improve coffee quality at all stages of processing, with a focus on traceability and sustainability in the coffee chain.

ABICS also promotes scientific and operational exchange and integration with national and foreign institutions and monitors and statistically records exports, preparing diagnoses and studies on the insertion of soluble coffee in the national and international markets.

Governance Structure

Board of Directors

PRESIDENT
Fábio SatoIGC

VICE PRESIDENT
Bruno Moreira Giestas REALCAFÉ

MANAGING DIRECTOR
Eduardo Barci Foz COCAM

CFO
José Massao Yamaguchi IGC

INSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS DIRECTOR
Aguinaldo José de Lima

Audit Committee

Fernando de Oliveira COCAM

Roberto Aparecido Seugling IGC

Antonio A. M. Reis – Duda REALCAFÉ

Executive Board

Fábio Sato IGC (President)

Bruno Moreira Giestas REALCAFÉ (Vice-president)

Sergio Ricardo de Almeida CACIQUE

Lewis George Collard COCAM

Jose Massao Yamaguchi IGC

Wanderson Guerra Leal REALCAFÉ

Taissara Martins NESTLÉ

Committees

Tax Committee

Paulo Ferro CACIQUE

Sérgio Almeida CACIQUE

Roberto Aparecido Seugling IGC

José Massao Yamaguchi IGC

Fernando de Oliveira COCAM

Marcos Marcelo Murari COCAM

Mirela Oliveira NESTLÉ

Bruno Vidal REALCAFÉ

Wanderson Guerra Leal REALCAFÉ

Alfredo Silveira CAMPINHO

Eder Barcelos OFI

Foreign Trade Committee

Fábio Sato IGC

Luiz Geraldo Rodrigues de Queiroz IGC

Ícaro Carneiro da Silva CACIQUE

Rafael Sant’anna CACIQUE

Eduardo Barci Foz COCAM

Lewis George Collard COCAM

Bruno Moreira Giestas REALCAFÉ

Sérgio Tristão REALCAFÉ

Karina Santos NESTLÉ

Vikram Aditya Watal OFI

Marketing Committee

Larissa Aizzo IGC

Ícaro Carneiro da Silva CACIQUE

Thais Freitas CACIQUE

Renato Miguel da Cruz COCAM

Robert M. Junior COCAM

Bruno M. Giestas REALCAFÉ

Gabriela Monsanto NESTLÉ

Marcella Stricagnolo JDE

Raquel Costa JDE

Jonatas Rocha MELITTA

Rosiane Wang MELITTA

Natalia Alves MELITTA

Vikram Aditya Watal OFI

Fabricio Tristão OFI

Aline Gurgel 3CORAÇÕES

Lauro Araujo Ré 3CORAÇÕES

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