Neumann Kaffee Gruppe responds to the latest publication by Empower, ProDESC, and Coffee Watch With this statement, we refer to the report “Exploitation and opacity: The hidden reality of mexican coffee in Nestlé and Starbucks supply chains", published in February 2025. Neumann Kaffee Gruppe (NKG) appreciates the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre's offer to respond to the allegations.

Mexico is an important market for NKG, where we are represented by our export company, Exportadora de Café California (ECC), and by our own farm, Finca La Puebla.

Our local presence allows us to work directly with the farmers. As mentioned in the report, ECC has implemented the "Por Mas Café" program. Por Mas Café served as the foundation for the creation of NKG’s global initiative, NKG Bloom, which provides smallholder farmers with the services and resources they need. Under this program, producers receive financing from a local bank including the agreement that they will sell their coffee to ECC, and ECC will repay the bank. Contracts are established for this arrangement. However, no specific prices are set, and the coffee is to be paid at the prevailing market price at the time of delivery. If ECC does not offer competitive prices, the producers have the right to sell to a third party and then use the proceeds to repay the bank.

The report also deals with financial resources ECC received from official sources. In this regard, we can state that these transactions have been taken out of context. Some of these contributions were indeed received, but they were part of a structured plan with a specific purpose. In this case, they were intended to cover approximately 50% of the costs for the technicians who provided technical assistance and training to producers, while the remaining 50% was covered by ECC.

Smallholder farmers are the backbone of the coffee industry. Their working and living conditions are often precarious, which we are aware of. Our approach is to support the farmers in avoiding inefficient management on the farms and in maximizing the potential of the farms. The profitability of a farm depends on a number of factors, including size, access to finance, use of pesticides and fertilizers, and whether the farm employs labor or can be run by one family. The market price of coffee also depends on many factors, including quality, supply and demand, inventory levels, crop cycles, movements in the coffee futures market, consumption, harvest timing, transportation and additional costs. Many of these factors can only be influenced to a limited extent by the coffee industry itself.

We do not participate in unfair trade practices that are either illegal or violate our NKG Code of Conduct. We are striving for loyal, long-term partnerships and see everyone along the supply chain as our partner. One of our key competences is to establish a connection between roasters and producers to ensure a balance of both sides’ interests. We would like to emphasize that the foundation mentioned in the report, the Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS), is independent from and not an institutional part of NKG. NKG directly supports individual projects of the HRNS. Together with other companies, NKG is a shareholder of the International Coffee Partners (ICP) and a member of the Initiative for Coffee & Climate (c&c). ICP and c&c are implemented by HRNS. The foundation has no presence in Mexico and is currently not active there. Furthermore, HRNS is not involved in coffee trading.

It should be noted that the German Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz does not apply to us as a company. However, we at NKG recognize our central position and responsibility in the coffee supply chains and want to contribute to improving human rights and environmental standards by acting responsibly and embedding the core elements of corporate due diligence in our business environment and supply chains...