GLOBAL COFFEEPLATFORM

“A future worth living, especially for smallholders and their families in the growing regions, can only be created through joint approaches by all those involved in the various countries and regions.” These were the words of Stefan Dierks, Director Sustainability Strategy of the Melitta Group on the news that Melittta would expand its membership in the GCP globally.

“For years we have been committed to promoting sustainable coffee cultivation by using sustainability certification for our products and supporting community projects in the growing areas,” Dierks explained.

With a rich history spanning 111 years, Melitta is today an internationally operated group of companies and is one of the leading independent family businesses in Germany and abroad. The company has more than 5,200 employees and has achieved sales of more than 1.5 billion euros in 2018. Its main activities include the development, manufacture and sale of branded products for coffee enjoyment, for the storage and preparation of food as well as for household cleanliness.

In the coffee business sector, the group has three divisions: Melitta Europe, Melitta South America and Melitta North America. The Melitta and Bom Jesus brands are both well-known and well-loved in the market.

But the company is also well aware of the importance of cooperation and despite numerous initiatives and years of efforts by the sector, economic, ecological and social challenges remain in the coffee growing regions. Citing the current pricing crisis in the green coffee market, which only serves to exacerbate this situation, Dierks said innovative alliances were necessary in addition to the individual activities in the supply chains and should include representatives of other sectors of the economy, governments and authorities, science and civil society.

Stefan Dierks, Director Sustainability Strategy of the Melitta Group

“With its structure, its expertise and the programmes based on it, the GCP offers the opportunity to pursue this approach and to find innovative forms of cooperation. The Melitta Group has therefore decided to expand its membership of the GCP globally.”

Dierks said Melitta’s goal was to establish a combination of measures along the value chain. “In addition to supply chain-related measures – e.g. training, development of direct supply relationships and cooperation with sustainability standards – it will be important to develop and implement jointly and, where appropriate, cross-sector initiatives for the sustainable further development of the most important growing regions.”

In order to achieve these goals, said Dierks, Melitta will increasingly participate in various GCP platforms and initiatives in the future.