Bogota, Dec. 23 – Colombia hopes early next year to join other coffee-producing nations to buy an influential share in Starbucks, with Brazil and Central American growers already interested in a possible deal, a top Colombian coffee official told Reuters.
Colombia, the world's No. 3 coffee producer, has held talks with investment banks for about a year about a share in the U.S. giant, which would allow growers more say in the supply chain, said Gabriel Silva, director of the National Federation of Coffee Growers.
Hurt by the global economic crisis and slower consumer demand for premium coffee, Starbucks recently announced it would close down 600 stores and expected to double its cost-cutting as sales fall.
"There is an opportunity the crisis offers us; Starbucks' share value is at one of its lowest points in history," Silva said in an interview late Monday. "We want to have a position of influence … a voice sufficiently strong to be able to contribute to the development of the company."
Silva said he hoped a deal could be ready by the first quarter of next year and already had offers of alliances from other current investors. But he said the deal would not be hostile or for a majority share.
"Starbucks has no official comment other than that we value the relationships we have with coffee growers everywhere we buy coffee — including those in Colombia," a spokesperson said last week on recent remarks by Silva on a possible deal.