Brazilian coffee will be the theme of a documentary by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, former Warner Bros. worldwide production president, who was responsible for productions like Matrix and Harry Potter.
Doctor Darcy Lima, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), was invited by Bonaventura to be the scientific councillor of a scientific documentary about coffee, Brazil and health.
Lima coordinates a project called Coffee and Health at the Heart Institute (InCor), which has the objective of studying the effects of coffee on human health.
The doctor is going to travel to the United States in March next year to discuss details of the production. The film will be made by Science Film, a scientific film producer run by Bonaventura.
Apart from telling the story of coffee, the documentary is going to address the benefits of the drink, just Darcy Lima’s line of research.
The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, which has also been developing a campaign to stimulate coffee consumption, has received a proposal to support the production, but they have not yet decided on the topic.
“Coffee is not just caffeine, it has healthy substances,” stated Lima.
According to the researcher, among other benefits, the drink also helps inhibit alcohol consumption, depression, cirrhosis, colon cancer and prevent diabetes.
Lima’s work was discovered by Bonaventura when the doctor administered the project for establishment of the Coffee Institute for Vanderbilt University, in Tennessee, United States, seven years ago.
As Science Film is a subsidiary of publishing house Wilson Devereux LLC, the theme should also be transformed into a book.
Lima stated that the documentary should be exhibited in cinemas worldwide. The production should benefit Brazil directly, as the country is the largest world coffee producer and exports around 25 million tons a year. Total country production is around 40 million tons per harvest.
The Deliberative Council of Coffee Policy, an organization run by the Ministry of Agriculture, with participation of the private sector, is organizing a series of actions for domestic consumption to grow and for the country to win the international market.
“In Brazil, a total of 14 million bags of coffee are consumed every year, but our objective is to reach 15 million bags,” stated the general coordinator for Planning at the ministry Coffee Department, Lucas Tadeu Ferreira.
In this second half, the group that manages marketing at the Council, for example, developed a 60 second ad called “Coffee in the Brazilian rhythm”.
The ad, which will first be aired on Brazilian television, and will then be aired in other countries, associates coffee consumption to youth.
A 15-minute film showing Brazilian production of washed coffee, one of the finest kinds of coffee, was also made. Around 500 CD-ROMs were sent to importers from the United States in the month of October.
Up to the end of the year, expenditure will have totalled around US$ 1.5 million in marketing. The resources are from the Fund for Defense of the Coffee Economy (Funcafé). Next year, expenses should total around US$ 3 million, according to Ferreira.
Programs about the effects of coffee consumption on human health are also being shown on the closed television channel “Conexão Médica”, from the southeastern city of São Paulo.
The programs reach around 40,000 health professionals in Latin America and Europe. Ferreira says that one of the largest restrictions to coffee consumption is the medical community, which links many health problems to coffee.
Market and Export
The United States is currently the largest coffee market in the world, consuming 18 million bags of coffee a year. The North American market, however, is dominated by Colombia, also a large producer of the product.
Among the list of destinations for Brazilian coffee exports, the United States figures as the second largest destination. Exports to the US, however, have been dropping.
Between January and October this year, sales have dropped 19.48% in comparison to the same period in 2003. The North Americans imported 3.9 million bags of coffee from Brazil in the first ten months of last year, and 3.2 million in the same months in 2004.
Germany, however, the largest importer, has increased its purchases by 13.36%. On the whole, Brazilian exports have dropped 1.82% in the period in terms of volume, but they have risen 27.3% in terms of revenues. In October, however, sales rose 8.3% in volume and 31% in revenues.
ANBA ”“ Brazil-Arab News Agency
