{ "id": "auctions-and-competitions", "url": "https://coffearium.org/entries/auctions-and-competitions/", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "title": "Auctions and competitions", "summary": "How coffee is sold by open bidding – the national auctions of Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania, and quality competitions such as the Cup of Excellence that end in online auctions – with dated prices and what studies say about quality premiums.", "domain": "trade", "kind": "Concept", "stage": "trade", "topics": [], "topicSections": {}, "lang": "en", "status": "verified", "reviewer": "Coffearium verification pass", "lastVerified": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z", "updated": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z", "added": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z", "brief": [ "In Kenya, clean coffee is sold lot by lot at a licensed coffee exchange; the grower sets a reserve price for each lot in the sales catalogue.7", "Ethiopia made coffee trading through the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) mandatory in 2008; a 2017 reform let washing stations, mills and larger farms export directly.9,10,11", "In the Cup of Excellence, coffees are cupped blind by a national and an international jury; the top 30 scoring 87 or more go to an online auction.1", "In the Honduras Cup of Excellence of 2025, the top lot sold for USD 88.40 per lb and the median lot for USD 21.60 (nominal; median our calculation).4", "A peer-reviewed study of Cup of Excellence auctions found prices driven by sensory traits and by reputation, such as the competition rank.14,16" ], "quickFacts": [ { "label": "National auctions covered", "value": "Nairobi Coffee Exchange (Kenya); Ethiopia Commodity Exchange; Moshi Coffee Auction (Tanzania)" }, { "label": "Kenya payment rule", "value": "Prompt date no more than 5 working days after the sale (2020 regulations)" }, { "label": "Ethiopia", "value": "ECX mandatory for coffee from 2008; direct export widened in 2017" }, { "label": "Cup of Excellence start", "value": "Brazil, 1999 (organiser’s history)" }, { "label": "Cup of Excellence thresholds", "value": "86+ to advance; 87+ for the auction; over 90 for a Presidential Award" }, { "label": "Auction timing", "value": "About 6 weeks after the International Jury week, online" }, { "label": "Honduras top lot · median lot", "value": "USD 17.60 · 1.60 per lb (2005); USD 88.40 · 21.60 per lb (2025)" } ], "aka": [ "Coffee auctions", "Coffee competitions" ], "linkTerms": [ "coffee auction", "online auction", "e-auction", "Nairobi Coffee Exchange", "Ethiopia Commodity Exchange", "Ethiopian Commodity Exchange", "Moshi Coffee Auction", "Best of Panama", "National Winner", "Presidential Award" ], "related": [ "how-a-coffee-price-is-made", "differentials", "green-coffee-grading", "cupping", "eras-and-waves-of-coffee", "direct-trade", "the-coffee-value-chain", "who-earns-what", "green-coffee-contracts" ], "contested": [ "Month in which ECX trading became mandatory for coffee: a 2021 IIED report dates the step to August 2008, with Proclamation 602/200810; a 2015 conference paper states that it became mandatory to trade all coffee through the ECX in December 2008.9 The two dates may describe the law and the start of trading; neither source says so." ], "corrections": [ { "date": "2026-11-02T00:00:00.000Z", "change": "Kenya: the Nairobi Coffee Exchange dated to 1935 (USDA 2026; ICO first auction September 1935) instead of the early 1930s.", "reason": "USDA's 2025 and 2026 reports and the ICO profile give 1935; aligned with the Kenya entry (verification of 2 November 2026)." }, { "date": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z", "change": "Removed the Donnet et al. estimates (sample of 541 lots, premium per score point, premium for first place).", "reason": "They appear only in the working paper (Tier B); the 2008 journal text could not be accessed, and a working paper carries no number alone." }, { "date": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z", "change": "Kenya: bidders are licensed buyers and roasters; brokers sell for growers.", "reason": "The 2020 regulations (reg. 2 and 33) do not describe brokers as bidders." }, { "date": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z", "change": "Removed the statement that Proclamation 1051/2017 was repealed.", "reason": "The FAOLEX record lists it as not repealed." }, { "date": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z", "change": "Traore et al. 2018: symbolic attributes named as origin, variety, processing method and certification, not rank.", "reason": "The article's definitions and Table 1." } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "title": "COE Rules & Protocols", "authors": "Alliance for Coffee Excellence", "publisher": "Cup of Excellence", "url": "https://cupofexcellence.org/rules-protocols/", "tier": "A/B", "tierNote": "The organiser’s own published rules; A for what the rules specify (rounds, thresholds, auction timing), B otherwise. The page shows an older and a newer version of the rules; this entry follows the newer one and names the older wording where it differs. Page last modified 26 February 2025.", "quote": "The top 30 coffees advance to the Cup of Excellence auction, if the coffee scores an 87+.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s2", "title": "COE History", "authors": "Alliance for Coffee Excellence", "publisher": "Cup of Excellence", "url": "https://cupofexcellence.org/cup-of-excellence-history/", "tier": "A/B", "tierNote": "Non-profit organiser of the programme, on its own history; A for its own founding year and place (owner ruling on organisations’ own founding dates), B otherwise.", "quote": "program was born in 1999 in Brazil", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-21T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s3", "title": "ACE National Winner", "authors": "Alliance for Coffee Excellence", "publisher": "Alliance for Coffee Excellence", "url": "https://cupofexcellence.org/about-national-winners/", "tier": "A/B", "tierNote": "The organiser on its own programme; A for the programme’s rules and start year, B otherwise.", "quote": "The National Winner program began in 2016 and sells the semi-finalist to the Cup of Excellence program.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s4", "title": "Honduras – Cup of Excellence auction results, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2015, 2018, 2021, 2023 and 2025", "authors": "Alliance for Coffee Excellence", "year": 2025, "publisher": "Alliance for Coffee Excellence", "url": "https://allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org/honduras-2025/", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "The organiser’s published results (A for its own results). Eight results pages read, one per year, at allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org/honduras-2005/, /honduras-2008/, /honduras-2012/, /honduras-2015/, /honduras-2018/, /honduras-2021/, /honduras-2023/ and /honduras-2025/. Prices are the listed price per lb for each Cup of Excellence lot (National Winner lots excluded); split a/b lots are counted as separate lots; medians and multiples are our calculation.", "quote": "Honduras Traditional Varieties", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s5", "title": "Brazil 2023 – Cup of Excellence", "authors": "Alliance for Coffee Excellence", "year": 2023, "publisher": "Alliance for Coffee Excellence", "url": "https://allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org/brazil-2023/", "tier": "A/B", "tierNote": "The organiser’s published results; A for its own auction results (scores, lot sizes, prices per lb, auction date) and for its own programme menu and results archive shown on the page, B otherwise. Median our calculation from the 30 Cup of Excellence lots listed.", "quote": "ensuring no additives other than water are introduced", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s6", "title": "Brazil Pulped Naturals 2005 – Cup of Excellence", "authors": "Alliance for Coffee Excellence", "year": 2005, "publisher": "Alliance for Coffee Excellence", "url": "https://allianceforcoffeeexcellence.org/brazil-pulped-naturals-2005/", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "The organiser’s published results (A for its own results).", "quote": "Fazenda Santa Ines", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s7", "title": "The Capital Markets (Coffee Exchange) Regulations, 2020 (Legal Notice 40 of 2020)", "authors": "Republic of Kenya", "year": 2020, "publisher": "Kenya Gazette Vol. CXXII No. 58 (Kenya Law)", "url": "https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/act/ln/2020/40/eng@2022-12-31", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "Government regulation; read in the consolidated version of 31 December 2022.", "quote": "The grower or the grower's agent shall set the reserve price for each lot in the sales catalogue", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s8", "title": "Kenya: Coffee Annual (2017)", "year": 2017, "publisher": "USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, GAIN report", "url": "https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/report/downloadreportbyfilename?filename=Coffee+Annual_Nairobi_Kenya_5-15-2017.pdf", "tier": "A", "quote": "a spot market that has been in existence since early 1930s", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s9", "title": "The Ethiopian commodity exchange and the coffee market: Are local prices more integrated to global markets?", "authors": "Hernandez, M. A.; Lemma, S.; Rashid, S.", "year": 2015, "publisher": "International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) 2015 Conference, Milan (CGSpace; AgEcon Search 211732)", "url": "https://cgspace.cgiar.org/items/67b06c17-475e-4280-8c11-e1f49e6eb8d5", "tier": "B", "tierNote": "Conference paper by research-institute authors, no stated peer review (tier decision of 8 Oct 2026). Abstract read.", "quote": "In December 2008 it became mandatory to trade all coffee through the ECX.", "quotes": [], "abstractOnly": true, "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s10", "title": "Ethiopian coffee marketing reforms and smallholder coffee producers: A socio-legal empowerment lens", "authors": "Mas Aparisi, A.", "year": 2021, "publisher": "International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), London", "url": "https://www.iied.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/2021-04/12609iied.pdf", "tier": "B", "tierNote": "Research-institute report (NGO); B. Its dates are paired with a second source in this entry.", "quote": "In August 2008, the government made coffee trading through the ECX mandatory with Proclamation 602/2008", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s11", "title": "Ethiopia: Coffee Annual (2018), GAIN report ET1820", "year": 2018, "publisher": "USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, GAIN report", "url": "https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/report/downloadreportbyfilename?filename=Coffee+Annual_Addis+Ababa_Ethiopia_5-24-2018.pdf", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "Report dated 24 May 2018; it dates the reform to “last July”, that is July 2017.", "quote": "Commercial farmers and cooperative unions could export directly to foreign buyers prior to this change.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s12", "title": "Coffee Marketing and Quality Control Proclamation No. 1051/2017 (FAOLEX record)", "authors": "Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia", "year": 2017, "publisher": "Federal Negarit Gazette No. 43, via FAOLEX / UNEP LEAP", "url": "https://leap.unep.org/en/countries/et/national-legislation/coffee-marketing-and-quality-control-proclamation-no-10512017", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "Database record of the law (title, gazette, date, abstract); the record lists the proclamation as not repealed (field “Repealed” set to “No”, read 24 Oct 2026). The full text was not read.", "quote": "Coffee exporters shall register to National Bank of Ethiopia and notify to the Authority", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s13", "title": "The Coffee Industry Regulations, 2013 (G.N. No. 385 of 2013)", "authors": "United Republic of Tanzania", "year": 2013, "publisher": "Gazette of the United Republic of Tanzania No. 41, Vol. 94, Supplement No. 39", "url": "https://policyvault.africa/wp-content/uploads/policy/TZA424.pdf", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "Government regulation, read in a scanned copy with OCR slips; its margin notes refer to an amendment (G.N. No. 65 of 2014) that was not read.", "quote": "Tanzania Coffee Board shall pay auction coffee sales not more than seven days after prompt date", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s14", "title": "Price determinants in top-quality e-auctioned specialty coffees", "authors": "Donnet, M. L.; Weatherspoon, D. D.; Hoehn, J. P.", "year": 2008, "publisher": "Agricultural Economics 38(3), 267–276", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-0862.2008.00298.x", "doi": "10.1111/j.1574-0862.2008.00298.x", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "Peer-reviewed; abstract read via Crossref (the journal full text could not be accessed). It carries no number in this entry.", "quote": "We analyze the price determinants of specialty coffees traded at e-auctions.", "quotes": [], "abstractOnly": true, "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s15", "title": "Price Determinants in Top Quality E-Auctioned Specialty Coffees (Staff Paper 2007-02)", "authors": "Donnet, L.; Weatherspoon, D.; Hoehn, J. P.", "year": 2007, "publisher": "Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University", "url": "https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/9310/files/sp07-02.pdf", "tier": "B", "tierNote": "University working paper without stated peer review (tier decision of 8 Oct 2026); working-paper version of source 14. By owner ruling a working paper is Tier B and carries no number alone, so its estimates are not given.", "quote": "the specialty coffee premium is pegged to the commodity price", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s16", "title": "What explains specialty coffee quality scores and prices: A case study from the Cup of Excellence program", "authors": "Traore, T. M.; Wilson, N. L. W.; Fields, D.", "year": 2018, "publisher": "Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 50(3), 349–368", "url": "https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/355615/files/what-explains-specialty-coffee-quality-scores-and-prices-a-case-study-from-the-cup-of-excellence-program.pdf", "doi": "10.1017/aae.2018.5", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "Peer-reviewed; open-access (CC BY 4.0) published version read on AgEcon Search.", "quote": "specialty coffee prices are mainly determined by symbolic attributes", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s17", "title": "When Higher Quality Does Not Translate to Higher Prices: A Case of Quality and Specialty Coffees from the Cup of Excellence Auctions", "authors": "Wilson, N. L. W.", "publisher": "Auburn University, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology (AgEcon Search 211898)", "url": "https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/211898/files/Wilson-When%20Higher%20Quality%20Does%20Not%20Translate%20to%20Higher%20Prices-320.pdf", "tier": "B", "tierNote": "University working paper, undated, with no stated peer review; it carries no number in this entry.", "quote": "quality for certain ranked coffees does not have a statistically significant effect on the price", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s18", "title": "Cupping and Grading – Discovering Character and Quality", "authors": "Lingle, T. R.; Menon, S. N.", "year": 2017, "publisher": "In: Folmer, B. (ed.), The Craft and Science of Coffee, Academic Press, ch. 8, pp. 181–203", "url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780128035207/the-craft-and-science-of-coffee", "doi": "10.1016/B978-0-12-803520-7.00008-6", "tier": "B", "tierNote": "Recognised textbook chapter; read in the local full text supplied by the editor. Folmer chapters count as one Tier B source; no number in this entry rests on it alone.", "quote": "The promotion of the Brazil coffees hinged on creating a cupping competition that would be immediately followed by an Internet auction.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s19", "title": "Best of Panama (programme home page)", "authors": "Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP)", "publisher": "Best of Panama", "url": "https://bestofpanama.org/", "tier": "B", "tierNote": "Organiser’s own page; no results table or price could be accessed there or on its auction site, so it carries no price in this entry.", "quote": "setting new records along the way", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-24T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s20", "title": "Kenya: Coffee Annual (KE2026-0011)", "authors": "Gitonga, K. (USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Nairobi)", "year": 2026, "publisher": "USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, GAIN report", "url": "https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Coffee+Annual_Nairobi_Kenya_KE2026-0011.pdf", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "Government report dated 18 May 2026.", "quote": "a spot market founded in 1935", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-11-02T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s21", "title": "Country Coffee Profile: Kenya (ICC-124-7)", "authors": "International Coffee Organization", "year": 2019, "publisher": "International Coffee Organization", "url": "https://www.ico.org/documents/cy2018-19/icc-124-7e-profile-kenya.pdf", "tier": "A/B", "tierNote": "Dated 14 March 2019. A for its statistics; B for history and descriptions (the auction dates here are history, paired with USDA, source 20).", "quote": "The first coffee auction was inaugurated in September 1935.", "quotes": [ { "text": "the Kenya coffee auctions, as a mode of selling Kenyan coffee, were established in 1934", "for": "auctions established" } ], "accessed": "2026-11-02T00:00:00.000Z" } ], "markdown": "## Two ways to sell by bidding\n\nMuch green coffee is priced against a futures market: the futures price plus a premium or discount for the lot (see How a coffee price is made and Differentials). An auction sets the price another way. Buyers bid for each lot, and the highest bid wins.14,15 A lot is a batch of coffee from one origin and process, traded as a unit.\n\nTwo kinds of auction matter in coffee. National auctions sell ordinary export coffee lot by lot, under national law.7,13 Quality competitions select a few dozen top lots by blind cupping and then sell them in one online auction.1\n\n## National auctions in East Africa\n\n**Kenya.** The Nairobi Coffee Exchange is a spot market founded in 1935, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA); its 2017 report gave “early 1930s”.20,8 According to the International Coffee Organization (ICO), Kenyan coffee auctions were established in 1934 and the first auction was held in September 1935.21 Under the 2020 regulations, a coffee exchange is licensed by Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority to trade clean coffee.7 The exchange keeps a central sample room, and buyers and roasters receive offer samples before each auction.7 Each lot is listed in a sales catalogue, and the grower or the grower’s agent sets its reserve price.7 Only licensed persons take part on the trading floor: brokers sell for growers, and licensed buyers and roasters buy.7 Growers may also sell directly to buyers abroad; those contracts are registered with the Coffee Directorate.8\n\n**Ethiopia.** The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) opened in 2008.9,10 In the same year, trading coffee through the ECX became mandatory for everyone except cooperatives and large plantations.9,10 One side effect, according to a 2021 policy report, was that the origin of individual lots could no longer be traced.10 In 2017, new laws let washing stations, mills and larger farms export directly.11,12 Grading at the ECX is described in Green coffee grading.\n\n**Tanzania.** Under the 2013 regulations, the Tanzania Coffee Board holds coffee auctions at the Moshi Coffee Auction or another place it approves.13 Lots are offered in catalogues prepared by the Board, and coffee exporters or their agents attend and bid.13 The Board may allow an applicant to export without going through the auction.13\n\n## Quality competitions\n\nThe Cup of Excellence began in Brazil in 1999, according to its organiser, the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE).2 The organiser names the International Coffee Organization among its first funders.2 A coffee textbook chapter describes a specialty coffee promotion programme of that organisation whose promotion of Brazilian coffees hinged on a cupping competition followed at once by an internet auction.18 The competition is open to every producer in the host country, and the first sample is entered free.1\n\nTwo juries cup the samples blind, without knowing the producer, farm, variety or place.1 A coffee must score 86 points or more out of 100 to advance from round to round.1 The top 30 coffees go to the auction if they score 87 or more.1 About six weeks after the international jury meets, the winning lots are sold online on the ACE website.1 The rules say that producers receive the majority of the auction proceeds.1\n\n
\n
\n

From sample to shipped lot

\n
    \n
  1. Sample. Any producer in the host country may enter; the first sample is free.1
    2. \n
  2. National Jury. Rounds 1–3, cupped blind; 86 points or more to advance.1
    3. \n
  3. Bonded warehouse. After round 1, the whole lot moves to a warehouse controlled by an independent auditor.1
    4. \n
  4. International Jury. Rounds 4–6; the top 30 with 87 or more go to auction.1
    5. \n
  5. Preparation. Winning lots are milled, sorted and vacuum packed; exact weights are recorded.1
    6. \n
  6. Online auction. About six weeks after the International Jury week.1
    7. \n
  7. Shipment and payment. By sea or air; producers are paid after the buyers pay.1
    8. \n
  8. National Winner. Coffees scored below 87 by the International Jury are sold in a separate programme.3
    9. \n
\n
The Cup of Excellence route as the organiser’s published rules describe it. Point at a number or a line of the legend to highlight the step. Schematic, not to scale.1,3
\n
\n\nOther programmes work in a similar way. As of October 2026, ACE lists competitions for 2026 in Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Thailand.5 Its archive also holds results for Ethiopia from 2020 and for a “Best of Taiwan” in 2023.5 Best of Panama is run separately by the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama, with its own online auction.19 A textbook chapter credits a Geisha coffee from Panama, sold for record prices in an internet auction, with prompting producers elsewhere to plant the variety.18\n\n## What the prices show\n\nCompetition prices are far above those of commodity coffee, and they vary widely within one auction.14,4 In the Honduras Cup of Excellence of 2005, the top lot sold for USD 17.60 per lb and the median lot for USD 1.60.4 In 2025, the top lot reached USD 88.40 per lb and the median lot USD 21.60.4 All prices here are in nominal US dollars per pound of green coffee, as the organiser lists them.4\n\n
\n
\n
Highest and median price per lot in eight Honduras Cup of Excellence auctions, 2005–2025, in nominal USD per lb. Prices from the eight ACE results pages for these years; medians are our calculation; National Winner lots are excluded and other years are not shown.4
\n
\n\nThe top lot says little about the typical lot. In Brazil in 2023, the highest price was USD 130.30 per lb, about USD 287 per kg (our calculation).5 The median of the 30 Cup of Excellence lots was about USD 12.30 per lb (our calculation).5 In the Brazil Pulped Naturals auction of 2005, the winner sold for USD 49.75 per lb and the second lot for USD 7.80.6\n\nRecord prices for single lots at Best of Panama are widely reported in the press. No results page of the organiser could be accessed for this entry, so no figure is given here.19\n\n\n\n## Reference values: how the auctions work\n\nThe table compares the rules as each source states them. Laws may have been amended since the version read; the date of each version is given.\n\n| Parameter | Nairobi Coffee Exchange (Kenya) | ECX (Ethiopia) | Moshi Coffee Auction (Tanzania) | Cup of Excellence (ACE) |\n|---|---|---|---|---|\n| Rules read | Capital Markets (Coffee Exchange) Regulations, 2020 (consolidated 31 Dec 2022)7 | Proclamation 602/2008; Proclamation 1051/201710,12 | Coffee Industry Regulations, 201313 | COE Rules & Protocols (page modified 26 Feb 2025)1 |\n| Operator | Exchange licensed by the Capital Markets Authority7 | Ethiopia Commodity Exchange9,10 | Tanzania Coffee Board13 | Alliance for Coffee Excellence, with a professional auditing company1 |\n| What is sold | Clean coffee, lot by lot from a sales catalogue7 | Coffee of all traders except cooperatives and large plantations (2008 rule)10 | Coffee from Board catalogues that name the owner13 | Up to 30 lots scoring 87+, plus split lots1 |\n| Who bids | Licensed buyers and roasters, who receive samples beforehand; brokers sell for growers7 | Not covered by the sources consulted | Coffee exporters or their agents13 | Online bidders on the ACE website1 |\n| Floor price | Reserve price per lot, set by the grower or agent7 | Not covered by the sources consulted | Not stated in the regulations read | Not stated on the rules page |\n| Payment | By the prompt date, ≤5 working days after the sale; net payment to the grower through a direct settlement system7 | Not covered by the sources consulted | Board pays sellers ≤7 days after the prompt date13 | Due on receipt of shipping documents; producers paid after buyers pay1 |\n| Route outside the auction | Direct sales, contracts registered with the Coffee Directorate8 | Direct export by washing stations, mills and farms over 2 ha (from 2017)11 | Direct export with Board approval13 | – |\n\n## Ethiopia: from the ECX mandate to the 2017 reform\n\nAccording to a 2021 report of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the ECX was launched to improve agricultural marketing.10 When coffee trading through the exchange became mandatory is dated differently (see Contested).9,10\n\nThe IIED report names the loss of traceability of individual lots as a side effect of the mandate.10 The same report finds that the cooperatives’ share of coffee exports did not rise much after the mandate.10\n\nThe 2017 reform was enacted through Proclamations 1050/2017 and 1051/2017.10,12 Proclamation 1051/2017 was published in the Federal Negarit Gazette on 5 June 2017.12 A USDA report of May 2018 states that it allowed washing stations, mills and farmers with more than 2 ha of coffee (at least 1 t/ha) to export directly without the ECX.11 Before that change, commercial farms and cooperative unions could already export directly.11 The IIED report describes the result as traceability restored through “vertical integration”.10 According to the FAOLEX record, buying or selling coffee outside the ECX or other transaction centres set up by the authority remains an offence under Proclamation 1051/2017; the record lists the law as not repealed.12 Later amendments, if any, were not consulted for this entry.\n\nWhether the exchange linked Ethiopian prices more closely to world prices is not settled. According to a 2015 conference paper, not all coffee regions had become more connected to world markets in the first years after the mandate.9\n\n## Cup of Excellence rules in detail\n\nThe rules page describes six rounds of cupping.1 Samples with major defects are eliminated at once.1\n\n| Round | Jury | Rule as published | Source |\n|---|---|---|---|\n| 1 (pre-selection) | National Jury | Each sample cupped once; 86+ advance, at most 150 samples | 1 |\n| After round 1 | – | Whole lot moved to a bonded warehouse under an independent auditing company | 1 |\n| 2 | National Jury | 86+ again, at most 90 samples advance | 1 |\n| 3 | National Jury | At most 40 samples advance | 1 |\n| 4 | International Jury | All samples passed forward are cupped | 1 |\n| 5 | International Jury | Up to 30 samples scoring over 87 are cupped again | 1 |\n| 6 | International Jury | Top ten cupped again for final score and ranking | 1 |\n| Awards | – | Over 90: Presidential Award; top three split into lots a and b if 90+ | 1 |\n| Auction | – | Online on the ACE website, about 6 weeks after the International Jury week | 1 |\n| National Winner | – | National Jury 86+, International Jury below 87; programme since 2016 | 3 |\n\nThe page also keeps an older wording. It speaks of up to 35 judges and of a minimum of 87 points in the final round.1 The thresholds were not always this high. In the Honduras auctions of 2005 and 2008, lots that scored below 85 were sold, and in 2012, 2015 and 2018 lots below 87.4 When each threshold changed was not stated on the pages consulted.\n\n## Median, record and the score–price link\n\nThe organiser’s results allow a simple check of how far the top lot lies from the rest (our calculation from the listed prices).4,5\n\n| Auction | Lots | Top lot (USD/lb) | Median lot (USD/lb) | Lowest lot (USD/lb) | Source |\n|---|---|---|---|---|---|\n| Honduras 2005 | 41 | 17.60 | 1.60 | 1.50 | 4 |\n| Honduras 2008 | 26 | 16.65 | 5.55 | 3.05 | 4 |\n| Honduras 2012 | 20 | 16.50 | 8.14 | 7.50 | 4 |\n| Honduras 2015 | 38 | 23.30 | 5.05 | 4.10 | 4 |\n| Honduras 2018 | 41 | 80.60 | 9.40 | 6.90 | 4 |\n| Honduras 2021 | 28 | 75.20 | 24.15 | 12.50 | 4 |\n| Honduras 2023 | 32 | 62.00 | 11.70 | 5.80 | 4 |\n| Honduras 2025 | 33 | 88.40 | 21.60 | 15.10 | 4 |\n| Brazil 2023 | 30 | 130.30 | ≈12.28 | 10.35 | 5 |\n\nLots include split a/b lots; medians are our calculation. The 2025 Honduras auction pooled three variety categories, and Brazil 2023 three process categories.4,5 Over these eight Honduras auctions the median rose more than tenfold, from USD 1.60 to 21.60 per lb in nominal terms (our calculation); no adjustment for inflation or for the futures price was made.4\n\nPrice does not rise strictly with score. In the Brazil 2023 natural (“dry”) category, the coffee ranked second at 90.12 points sold for USD 19.00 per lb, while the one ranked sixth at 88.21 sold for USD 28.40.5\n\n## What studies find about quality premiums\n\nA peer-reviewed analysis of Cup of Excellence e-auctions in Central and South America found that clearing prices depend on sensory traits, a third-party quality ranking, country of origin, variety and lot size, and that they were well above commodity prices.14 In its working-paper version, larger lots sold for less per pound, first place carried the largest premium, and specialty prices moved with the commodity price.15 The size of these premiums is not given here: the journal text was not open for this entry, and the working paper alone carries no number.\n\nA 2018 peer-reviewed study of the same programme separated “material” attributes, such as cupping notes, from “symbolic” ones, such as origin, variety, processing method and certification. Symbolic attributes explained more of the scores than material ones, and prices were mainly determined by symbolic attributes. Prices also depended on auction conditions such as the number of coffees offered, and first place carried the largest price premium.16 A later working paper by one of its authors found that, for some ranks, a higher score did not raise the price significantly; it ties the rank premium to how buyers read rankings.17\n\nNo study consulted for this entry measured prices on the Nairobi or Moshi auctions against quality, or how much of an auction price reaches the producer in Kenya or Tanzania. Shares of value along the chain are treated in Who earns what. No study by Teuber on competition prices was consulted for this entry.\n\n## Open questions\n\n- **Spill-over to non-winning lots.** No study consulted here measured whether a competition raises prices for a region’s ordinary lots in later years.\n- **Real price trend.** The Honduras series is nominal; an inflation-adjusted series, or one set against the futures price at each auction date, was not found in the sources consulted.\n- **Payment speed and producer share.** The rules give payment deadlines but not the share of the final price the grower receives at each national auction.\n- **ECX after 2017.** Later amendments to Proclamation 1051/2017 and the volume still traded through the ECX were not covered by the sources consulted.\n\n## Key studies\n\n
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Donnet, Weatherspoon and Hoehn, 2008 – Price determinants in e-auctioned specialty coffees. A hedonic price analysis of Cup of Excellence e-auctions in Central and South America. Clearing prices depended on sensory traits and on reputation, such as the competition rank, and were far above commodity prices.

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Agricultural Economics 38(3), 267–276 · doi:10.1111/j.1574-0862.2008.00298.x

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Traore, Wilson and Fields, 2018 – Quality scores and prices in the Cup of Excellence. Asked which attributes explain both the jury score and the auction price. Symbolic attributes, such as origin and variety, carried more weight than material ones, and the number of coffees in the auction mattered; cuppers and buyers preferred fruity, floral, sweet, spice and sour-acid notes.

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Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 50(3), 349–368 · doi:10.1017/aae.2018.5

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Wilson, undated working paper – When higher quality does not raise the price. Used Cup of Excellence auction lots from several countries. Rank had a larger effect on price than score, and within some ranks the score had no significant effect.

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Auburn University working paper · AgEcon Search 211898

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Hernandez, Lemma and Rashid, 2015 – The ECX and the coffee market. Tested whether Ethiopian regional coffee prices became more closely linked to world prices after trading through the exchange became mandatory. Not all regions did in the first years, and regional prices did not become more integrated with each other.

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IAAE 2015 conference paper · CGSpace

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