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SunOpta Announces the Revival and Upgrading of Fogo-Origin Coffee in the Republic of Cape Verde
SunOpta Inc. ("SunOpta" or "the Company") (NASDAQ: STKL) (TSX: SOY), a leading global company fo...
About this update from Sunopta Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nSunOpta Announces the Revival and Upgrading of Fogo-Origin Coffee in the Republic of Cape Verde\n\nSunOpta Inc. (\"SunOpta\" or \"the Company\") (NASDAQ: STKL) (TSX: SOY), a leading global company focused on natural, organic and specialty foods and natural health products, today announced that the SunOpta International Foods Group will expand its fair trade and organic coffee business with the development of operations in the Republic of Cape Verde. Trabocca B.V. (“Trabocca”), 65% owned by The Organic Corporation B.V. (“Tradin Organics”), in hand with a local Cape Verde partner have formed Fogo Coffee Spirit Ltd. (“Fogo Coffee”). Fogo Coffee will establish a coffee processing facility to produce the first certified organic, Fogo-origin, high quality coffee in the Republic of Cape Verde. Trabocca will own 51% while Casa Rodrigo Ltd., a Cape Verde company, will own the remaining share with Trabocca exclusively marketing the coffee worldwide. \nTrabocca B.V. specializes in sourcing certified organic and fair trade specialty coffee from key countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea and South America, and selling it worldwide.\nThe Republic of Cape Verde is an island country spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa. The project is to be undertaken on Fogo, one of the islands of the Republic of Cape Verde, named after its volcano. The land is very fertile and is well known for its grapes and wines and most recently for its coffee. To date, the prominence of Fogo coffee is non-existent, as this coffee is not currently available on the world market.\nThe processing facility will be funded by the two equity partners along with a grant from the Government of the Netherlands’ PSI program and is expected to have capacity to process 40 metric tons of specialty organic coffee in 2012, and expected to increase to over 140 metric tons over 5 years.\nThe facility will be built to comply with international standards for food manufacturing and utilize state-of-the-art environmental friendly equipment and wet processing techniques. The process minimizes the water required for the pulping process and the mechanisation of the washing process and has a plan for the small amount of waste water...