2008年12月26日 星期五

FNC要當星巴克的大股東

 
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這個新聞好玩! 對了,上圖右邊那位紳士就是FNC的執行長Gabreil Silva.

路透社報導指出,蓋布里歐想藉著收購星巴克股票來占一席之地,同時試圖影響星巴克的採購決策,簡單說,就是多買哥倫比亞的生豆,且慢!同樣有這唸頭的包括巴西與中美洲的豆商,只是蓋布里歐的想法最早表露且開始結合銀行探詢可行方案了,繼續來看這個新聞:

Coffee powerhouse Colombia hopes early next year to join other producers to buy an influential share in Starbucks, with Brazil and Central American growers also interested, a top coffee official told Reuters.
Colombia, the world's No. 3 producer, has held talks with banks for 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.
"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 on Monday. "We want to have a position of influence ... a voice sufficiently strong to be able to contribute to the development of the company."

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.
A year ago Starbucks shares were trading over $20 but now are just below $10. Its shares were up 2.24 percent at $9.57 in early Tuesday morning trade.
Silva said he hoped a Starbucks deal could be ready by the first quarter of next year and already had offers of alliances from other current investors.
"The percentage will depend very much on the current shareholders, I mean that we could work together," he said. "You can have an important presence without needing to take control or have absolute majority." tarbucks has been pressured this holiday season as consumers cut back on discretionary purchases. To drum up holiday season sales it has been offering 20 percent discounts on whole bean coffee and some other merchandise.
Starbucks did not immediately return calls seeking comment on Tuesday. But the company has responded before to initial remarks by Silva on a possible deal.
"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.
Silva said global coffee demand should hold through the world economic crisis next year even though consumers may likely shift to less costly options. He forecast a deficit of 8 million sacks of coffee next year in the world market.
Colombia, a top supplier of high-quality arabica beans, should produce between 11.8 million and 12 million 60-kg bags this year but more in 2009 thanks to output from rejuvenated coffee crops, Silva said.
Colombia expects to increase its production to 17 million bags by 2014 with a focus on high-demand specialty coffees.
The federation said on Monday production in November had fallen 39 percent to 933,000 60-kg bags as crops were delayed by heavy rains and the rejuvenation program took out some current output. Exports for the month fell 15 percent to 893,000 bags versus a year ago.

路透社的報導指出,FNC的CEO Gabriel Silva表示,哥倫比亞一年來已經跟銀行多次洽談收購星巴克股權的可行性,希望藉此讓FNC的咖啡農在星巴克供應鏈中擁有更多的採購決定權.因為星巴克股價回到歷史低檔區,這次的金融危機為FNC提供一個收購契機.
2007年星巴克股價超過20美元,目前剩不到10美元.蓋布里歐表示:收購星巴克股權希望能在明年第一季前完成,因為,取得股權多寡尚須決定於現有股東,我們願意與現有股東共同合作,我們的想法是擁有重要影響力,但這不意味著必須控制或搶下絕對多數股權.

感想:如果此事成真,那我們採購哥倫比亞精品豆的價格勢必飆漲,但這未必是壞事,只要真的精品仍在!
以2006-2007年事件為例,當時星巴客大舉採購瓜地馬拉,導致好豆難求且價格奇昂;對於尋找真正精品的烘豆商來說,出的價錢永遠比星巴克高,但2006年星巴克來個命令[今年要做安提瓜],導致好壞豆全部大缺貨,部分莊園藉口不交貨,頗多精品豆商自此不碰安提瓜,也算事出有因,咖啡農的短視違約不交貨,換來的卻是長期損失,看來星巴克淪為咖啡生產國收購的對象,也算10年河東10年河西吧!

2008年12月25日 星期四

談 Bottle Shock

 
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推薦這部電影!

雖說美國Yahoo,把這部電影中的重大事蹟形容為:
America has proven itself to the world: Neil Armstrong setting foot on the Moon; the US Men's Hockey team beating the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics.以及本部電影主題,in 1976, a small American winery bested the exalted French wines of the time and sent the wine industry into a tizzy - putting California wines on the map for good!因為在一場法國品酒專家的盲測中,她打敗法國著名酒莊榮膺冠軍!一舉把加州Napa酒推上名酒的行列.

這是真實故事,而且20年後,故事再度重演!酒莊的父子兩代,老爸不做律師,放下身段堅持要釀出好酒,不斷的堅持且耗費家產以至瀕臨破產,兒子呢,是個遊手好閒的嘻皮.而籌劃這場盲測酒會的,是個事業面臨瓶頸的品酒師,他是個英國人,卻在法國的巴黎開店教人怎麼品酒,他隔壁是一個專做巴黎導覽的旅行社,老闆來自美國,沒事就往隔壁老英開的店品酒一番.
當他們品酒時,所用的術語,其實都很專業而且在咖啡界,也是這麼用的.
回頭看看劇情簡介:
Jim and Bo Barrett. A former real estate attorney, Jim sacrificed everything to realize his dream of creating the perfect hand-crafted chardonnay. His business, however, is struggling, and he's not only trying to overcome differences with his slacker son, but is also fighting off the creditors. Meanwhile in Paris, unwitting British wine shop owner Steven Spurrier hopes to revive his own failing business by sponsoring a competition which will pit the traditional French powerhouse against the California upstarts. Little did Steven and Jim realize that they were both on course to change the history of wine forever.

我在華航飛回台灣的行程上看到這部片,第一次看法文版,在法國品酒的場景確實貼切,但場景回到Napa就很突兀了,看完不過癮,我又重頭看一次,如果你對紅白酒有興趣,且對品酒術語與咖啡杯測有興趣,這真是一部值得欣賞的佳構.