- BACKGROUND
The founders of G and F, had been working with their family which have been in coffee business for over 40 years. It started growing coffee and moved to coffee supply business in the 1980’s. There after the family has been working as a coffee supplier in the Yirgacheffe district, in the Southern Region of Ethiopia. The owners established G and F Coffee Export Company in 2013 not to export their own coffees but the family’s coffees as well which have over 20 coffee processing plants in Yirgacheffe and Guji Uraga districts. G and F Export mainly washed and unwashed coffees of Sidamo, Yirgacheffe and Guji Uraga.
G and F did not take time to establish itself in the export market because of quite many buyers who are interested in the region’s coffees, while they made their annual working visits to the region, they made visited the sites of the family. G and F owns 11 sites which supply coffees to it to export company. The following tables shows the performance of G and F as a supplier and exporter.
The family has now 11 washed and natural coffee processing site. Their site names and metrological data of the sites are as follows.
| G AND F COFFEE PROCESSING SITES | |||||||||||
| Gelana Abaya | Kotchere | Konga Sede | Silinga | Tori | Guji Uraga | Shifo | Buka Saysa | Gedeb | Aritcha | Hamb-ela Dikitu | |
| Altitude In meters | 1800-1900 | 1850-2100 | 1800-2000 | 1850-1950 | 1750–1900 | 1950- 2100 | 1800-2000 | 1800- 2000 | 1800-2000 | 1850-2200 | 1800-2000 |
| Variety | Weleso Gurume | Weleso Gurume | Weleso Gurume | Weleso Gurume | Weleso Gurume | Volcanic Fertile Soil | Local | Local | Local | Local | Local |
| Rainfall in mm | !500-1800 | 1700-2000 | 1800-2000 | 1850-2000 | 1200-1600 | 1800- 2100 | 1600-1800 | 1700-1900 | 1600-1900 | 1700-2000 | 1700-1900 |
| Production in tons | 192 | 230 | 154 | 134 | 134 | 154 | 115 | 77 | 134 | 192 | 154 |
| Location | Yirgacheffe | Yirgacheffe | Yirgacheffe | Yirgacheffe | Yirgacheffe | Guji | Yirgacheffe | Yirgacheffe | Yirgacheffe | Yirgacheffe | Guji Dikitu |
- Establishment of G and F coffee company
When the Ethiopian Coffee Exchange (ECX) was established in 2008, the coffee supply arm of G and F bought a seat in the Exchange for selling in the exchange coffees of their own and their partners. This has given further experience to the founders of G and F in the international coffee markets. This has led the family to enter the coffee export market and to establish G and f coffee export PLC in 2013.
- Export performance
G and F was established in 2013 and has made strides in the export markets without taking much time to introduce itself because quite many coffee buyers knew it already in the coffee processing and supply business’ G and F have been outsourcing coffee processing and cleaning service for its export since its establishment. With the growing demand for its coffees and the high coffee quality required, it has found necessary to have its own coffee processing and cleaning plant. It has completed the civil works, ware houses and offices and bought from abroad coffee cleaning, grading and color sorting machines. By September 2019, installation of machines and testing stage of the machine will be completed.
G and F now has reached exporting 500 tons of coffee annually. When the new coffee processing and cleaning plant becomes operational, the company expects to export between 1500 to 2000 tons with eight hours of work per day. It is possible to extend the working hours to meet the growing demand. Currently the company exports to 11 countries: the USA, Canada, UK, Norway, the Netherlands, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan.
- Coffee farms
The family has also a coffee farm in the Southern Region in Yirgacheffe, Negele Gorbitu sites with a size of 20 hectares and production of 40 tons.
- Transport
The family has a fleet of 13 trucks with trailers to transport coffee from the coffee sites to Addis Ababa and from Addis Ababa to the port of Djibouti. These enable the company to transport coffees in time and meet the delivery time set with overseas Customers.
- Social responsibility
The family has strong ties with the communities in the areas of its coffee processing sites. It assesses the needs of the communities and tries to fulfil them as much it can. So far it has constructed a school and has handed over to a community where there had been no school. It is supplying school supplies to needy students. It is also paying more to farmers who supply good coffees to its sites and quite many farmers have benefited from this arrangement. Thus the company has established amicable relationship with farmers who supply it coffees where both of them benefit from the fruit of their endeavors.
Recently customers from South Korea while visiting the processing sites of the company visited the school and promised to donate funds to the needy students.
- Future Plan
The plan of the company for the coming harvest season is to double production of customized lot (Anaerobic, Slow dry, Passion Honey) coffee types which we are known for. In addition promotion efforts are also planned to expand to existing markets as well as to potential markets.