The Bühler Group is helping African coffee processors improve both the quality of coffee and their productivity
As part of its drive to help African coffee processors and its on-going investment in Africa, Bühler is hosting the SORTEX Coffee Forum in Nairobi, Kenya later this week. The forum, to be held at the Bühler African Milling School, will be a training, knowledge and discussion event.
African coffee processors have seen a decline in their share of the global coffee market from about 27 per cent in the 1970s to less than half that number in the last decade. African coffee’s share of the global market in 2000s was down to about 13 per cent, despite the growing global demand for coffee.
Bühler believes that through investment and using its expertise, it can help African countries to satisfy premium export criteria to various countries which are increasingly imposing ever-more stringent quality expectations.
Lawrence Kuhn, head of market development for Middle East and Africa at Bühler, said, “With investment in optical sorting technologies currently on the increase in this region, the SORTEX Coffee Forum represents the perfect opportunity for coffee processors to meet with other local businesses, and to watch live sorting demonstrations of Bühler’s SORTEX A MultiVision and the new cost-effective YJT W range of sorters, all of which are capable of removing discoloured and immature beans plus foreign materials from Arabica and Robusta green coffee varieties.”
Around 50 coffee processors are expected to attend the event and are encouraged to come with their machine operators for an informative training workshop on the second day of the programme. This will provide practical advice and demonstrations on how to maintain and operate the SORTEX optical sorters to ensure maximum productivity and yield. Forum delegates will also have the opportunity to discuss individual sorting requirements and challenges with industry experts.
Earlier this year, Bühler opened its new African Milling School in Nairobi, dedicated to turning already experienced mill workers into world-recognised professional millers.
