Cup of Excellence
July 05, 2005

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Fifty nine bidders from Europe, North America, Asia and Australia competed for the purchase of the 17 individual lots of the best Salvadoran coffee, during the Cup of Excellence auction held on June 29 at a San Salvador hotel.

This was El Salvador’s third competition and auction conducted by the non-profit Alliance for Coffee Excellence. Curious spectators followed the bid changes on the www.cupofexcellence.org site. During the middle of the auction, small coffee producer Luis Rafael Pérez, a native of Santa Ana, in western El Salvador, broke the national record as he sold his product for $16.30 a pound, for a total value of $59,508.95.

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director Mark Silverman congratulted Pérez, who participated in the auction for the first time. The Salvadoran Coffee Council presented Mr. Silverman a trophy in recognition of the U.S. support to Salvadoran coffee producers.

The average price of coffee sold at the electronic auction was $4.76 a pound, four times greater than the C contract price in New York, which is around $1.10 a pound.

USAID has promoted the Cup of Excellence competition among small and medium sized producers, educating and assisting them on all of the requirements for their participation. USAID has also provided support to the Salvadoran Coffee Council (SCC) in the organization, logistics and publicity of the event. In addition, training has been provided to local cuppers to be able to judge coffees using international standards.