Each year, millions of coffee bags leave the producers countries, to satisfy the palate of millions of consumers living in countries where, unfortunately, coffee will never grow. The coffee market is a worldwide market with huge exchange volumes. The International Coffee Organization (ICO) monitors this enormous exchange and almost all of the producers and consumers countries joined this organization.
ICO operates to develop the coffee consumption in the world and to regulate the market. The coffee exchange takes place each day in Wall Street, London, Paris, Le Havre.

But let's examine the American and English exchange: the New York Coffee Sugar and Cocoa (Nycsc) that concerns the quotations of Arabica batches and the London Coffee terminal Market regarding the prices of Robusta.

These two centres are regulated by regulations that inspire the standard of product classification.

The London and New York Exchanges receive such detailed descriptions concerning each coffee batch that it is possible to estimate the value accurately.

All the characteristics of coffee are transmitted as codes and numbers corresponding to: botanic species, origin, sometimes the port of shipment, plantation altitude, crop way, year, shape, calibre, colour, hardness and defects. The producer countries are often neighbouring and for this reason, also the data concerning toasting and cup result are included. To indicate the dimension of the seed, to classify the Arabica beans, the following letters are used: AA - A - B - C to define the dimensions in decreasing sequence, and for Robusta: I - II - III.

Further classifications determinate:

• the hardness and density of the seeds:
  (HB=Hard Bean / SHB=Strictly Hard Bean).
  
  
• Defects indicated by the numeration from 2 to 6;
  2 fancy
  2/3 extra prime
  3/4 prime
  4/5 superior
  5/6 good
  
  
• Grade (calibration of the seed): extra large bean, very large bean, large bean, bold bean, good bean, medium bean, small bean.
  
  
• Bean shape: Flat (flat and lengthened), Bourbon (round and convex), Caracolito (small and round), maragogype (big).
  
  
• Colour
  
  
• Roast type: fine roast, good to fine roast, good roast.

Quotations of coffee in the exchange:

London   New York   Futures

Italy has an important position in the coffee market. Each year we import approximately 320.000 tons of green coffee (estimate of 2001, Editor's Note), half of which is Arabica and half Robusta. In one year we export approximately 3.800 tons of coffee, thanks to the work of the 750 roasters that are present in our country, where the 70% of the consumption takes place inside the homes, the 25% outside the homes and the remaining share inside the offices. In the bars the consumptions reaches 14 thousand millions cups!! From these numbers, it is obvious that in Italy coffee is something more than a cultural phenomenon.

France consumes approximately 180 thousand tons of coffee per year and prefers a longer coffee.

Germany prefers a coffee with lighter roast and bigger grind.

English do not only prefer tea, but the coffee they drink is the soluble kind, even if the espresso is asserting.

Also in Finland the consumption of coffee is above the average: each Finnish consumes at least 12 Kg of green beans and they pay attention to quality. In fact the qualities come from Kenya, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Mexico.

In Japan coffee is very expensive and usually they consume the Jamaican Blue Mountain. The Japanese population hold so much coffee in consideration that on the 1st of October they have one holyday in honour of coffee. Anyway, the trade of espresso is growing continuously.