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Letter from the President

Nicolas A. Tamari

SCTA President

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the SCTA (Swiss Coffee Trade Association) website.

Green coffee is being produced in more than 60 countries around the tropical/subtropical belt of the world and is one of the most important agricultural commodities traded globally.

Switzerland is one the largest trading places for green coffee. The 40 plus active members of the SCTA represent a volume of more than 50 % of global coffee exports. The members are mainly Swiss based trading and industry companies. The association is also open to non-Swiss based companies being actively engaged in coffee trading, processing/roasting, but also as a service provider to our industry like warehouse keepers, financial institutions and insurance companies. We always welcome new members.

The SCTA is representing the interests of the green coffee merchants in Switzerland, but is also globally and nationally well connected to other associations and institutions. Most of the SCTA members are internationally operating companies, but some are also smaller companies focused on supplying the Swiss market.

The SCTA is helping its members to address regulatory and legislative questions. The association endorsed the UN Guiding Principles for Human Rights in 2018 and encourages its members to implement those. You will also find the code of conduct of the SCTA on our website.

You can direct any questions or feedback to our secretary general Michael von Luehrte at michaelvonluehrte@sc-ta.ch.

Nicolas A. Tamari
SCTA President

Meet the Board

Nicolas Tamari

President of SCTA

CEO of Sucafina SA

Cyrille Jannet

Vice President of SCTA

Managing Director of Keurig Trading

André Pfister

Treasurer of SCTA

Coffee Trader at Ecom Agroindustrial Corp.

Hans Hegglin

SCTA Board Member

Coffee Trader at Volcafé – IG

Ann Traumann

SCTA Board Member

Green Coffee Trader at Starbucks Coffee Trading Company

Lambert Koers

SCTA Board Member

Director of Futures & Members of Management
at Blaser Trading

Guillaume Zbinden

SCTA Board Member

Head of customer development at LDC

Jean-Christophe Mani

SCTA Board Member

Coffee Trader at Walter Matter SA

SCTA Members

Associate Members

About Us

Vision & Mission

The SCTA is the representation of the green coffee trade coordinating trade related activities with key stakeholders

The SCTA acts as a platform to encourage best practices in the areas of human rights and sustainability and helps to roll out programs to its members

The SCTA is the organizer of the Swiss Coffee Forum and Dinner as a get together for the global coffee industry

The SCTA develops young talents through the next gen initiative

The role of coffee merchants

Coffee producing countries usually sell their crops just after harvesting. Coffee traders will buy coffee from producing countries when they are selling, handle it up to consuming countries and delivers it to roasters around the world all year long. We serve as a bridge between our supplier’s needs and our client’s needs. There are 2 major varieties of coffee that are grown throughout the world today : Arabica (about 65%) and Robusta (the remaining 35%) The aromatic coffee bean that we all know and enjoy is in fact, the seed of the coffee tree. It is commonly named green coffee because of its colour. There are many steps involved from collecting this green seeds up to the final cup of coffee. As coffee merchants we source green coffee beans for the industry and manage the following risks along the supply chain :

  • Market risks

    coffee futures price fluctuation, Forex, price fixations from supplier’s & clients.

  • Sourcing risks

    impacts of the climate over coffee crops, political & economical crisis or armed conflicts

  • Counterparty

    contractual defaults from supplier or customer, bankrupcy, delays.

  • Quality

    crop issues, quality discrepancy, cupping.

  • Transport

    is usually done by 20’ containers. Risks that trader will try to minimize among others are delays, damages, freight fluctuation, strikes.

  • Financing

    treasury, cost of credit, bankrupcy or default, forex.