Overview

• Café Bienestar debuts in three soluble presentations priced at 35 pesos for 50 g, 65 pesos for 90 g, and 110 pesos for 205 g.
• Initial sales are through Tiendas del Bienestar in Ciudad de México, Estado de México, Michoacán, Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala, with phased expansion planned nationwide.
• The program involves 6,646 small coffee producers, 44% of them women, primarily from indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz and La Montaña de Guerrero.
• Officials report 14 collection centers and eight mobile points in operation and say a plant to produce soluble coffee will be built, citing high household preference for instant coffee.
• A La Crónica de Hoy column quotes a Veracruz producer alleging the program pays about 4,500 pesos per quintal versus roughly 6,000 in the open market, and industry voices question soluble quality as the government stresses the product is 100% coffee with no additives.