E D & F Man's coffee business has purchasing operations in all the major origin countries, importing operations in all major consuming areas, and is a leading supplier to major roasters worldwide. VOLCAFE specialises also in "gourmet" coffee and has excellent relationships with its roaster clients, working with them to ensure quality control to their specifications.

As part of VOLCAFE's commitment to the increasing focus on sustainable coffee producing methods, which improve the quality of life for growers and workers, VOLCAFE has worked hard, particularly in Colombia, by providing almost 1,500 housing solutions since 1995. We are members of:

• Sustainable Agricultural Initiative.
• The Steering Committee of the Common Code for the Coffee Community.

We are approved suppliers for:

• Rainforest Alliance
• Utz Kapeh
• Fairtrade

The roots of VOLCAFE go back to 1851 when two brothers, Salomon and Johann Georg Volkart, founded Volkart Brothers Winterthur (Switzerland) and Bombay (India). The main purpose of this company was to engage in trade between Europe and the Indian subcontinent.

Out of this family enterprise grew a large trading corporation dealing in, among other things, coffee, cotton and industrial goods.

Volkart Brothers started its first coffee venture in India in 1857 and, in 1875, opened a branch office in Tellicherry in southern India. However, it was not until after World War II that coffee became an important activity of the head office of Volkart in Switzerland.

By 1950, Volkart's coffee trading activity covered mainly the Western Hemisphere with coffees from Latin America. Between 1950 and 1970, import companies were established in New York and Osaka as well as export companies in Brazil, Guatemala and Costa Rica. During the 1970's and 80's, other export operations were added in Colombia, Honduras, Kenya, Papua New Guinea and an import house in Germany.

In 1989, the ERB group, a Swiss Corporation from the same town of Winterthur, acquired the entire Volkart coffee division including all of the companies at origin. The ERB group renamed it VOLCAFE Limited.

VOLCAFE continued in the same tradition of a service-oriented, worldwide coffee corporation with emphasis on high-quality, washed, mild coffees.

In 2004 VOLCAFE was acquired by E D & F Man, one of the world's leading commodity trading companies.

VOLCAFE focuses on its core strengths, namely worldwide green coffee procurement, processing in producing countries and providing logistical services to the roasting manufacturing sites of its clients.

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