Green coffee pricing and FOB: how to read a quote.
A price per kilo means little until you know what it includes. This guide explains FOB and CFR, what moves the price of Ethiopian green coffee, and how to put two quotes side by side. Kaffa Bridge gives prices on enquiry, FOB Djibouti or CFR your port.
FOB and CFR in plain terms.
- FOB Djibouti
- Free on board. The seller delivers the coffee on board at the port of Djibouti. The buyer pays and arranges the ocean freight from there.
- CFR your port
- Cost and freight. The seller also pays the freight to the port you name.
- Risk
- In both cases the risk passes to the buyer once the coffee is on board.
FOB carries the road or rail leg behind it: Addis Ababa to Djibouti is about 900 km, by road in 2 to 4 days or by rail in 24 to 36 hours. See the logistics entry.
What moves the price.
- Grade and cup score
- A cleaner lot with a higher, documented score costs more.
- Region
- Names such as Yirgacheffe and Guji carry a premium that is partly reputation.
- Process
- Well made naturals often price above washed from the same area.
- Volume and timing
- Coffee already landed in a warehouse costs more than a forward contract on coffee still at origin.
- The season
- A firm or soft crop moves every quote.
Put two quotes side by side.
Two prices are only comparable when these match. If they do not, you are comparing different offers.
- Same delivery basis: FOB, CFR or another. A CFR price and an FOB price are not the same number.
- Same grade, process and cup score, with the scoresheet attached.
- Same crop year, and the same harvest window.
- Same quantity: a full container load (1 FCL) is our minimum, so ask what volume each quote assumes.
- Same payment terms, and the same documents.
Why we give prices on enquiry.
Price depends on the lot, the grade, the volume and the timing, so it is given with the offer, in writing, with the terms behind it. Payment terms are not published on this site either. They arrive with the offer for a lot, so ask for them in your brief.
Ask for a price.
Send the brief with the cup, volume, delivery port and timing. The price comes with the offer, FOB Djibouti or CFR your port.
Send your brief
Tell us the shape of it and we reply with something specific. No commitment.
Received.
We reply from [email protected], in your timezone.
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