Rice and coffee processing in Asia

RICE and coffee are two commodities that bring bright prospects to manufacturers of equipment and systems seeking markets in Asia.

The region produces and consumes the most rice, and is expected to harvest 461.9 million tonnes in 2018 as a result of favourable weather conditions, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation. This is higher by 1.2% from the previous year.

The total rice output from the ASEAN will grow 1.37% from around 110.5 million tonnes in 2010-11 to 128.3 million tonnes in 2021-22, says the Asian Development Bank.

Coffee consumption is estimated at 161.93 million bags in coffee year 2017-18, led by a 3.1% increase in Asia and Oceania which together accounted for 35.9 million bags more, reported the International Coffee Organisation. However, in those years, coffee production was higher by 1.59 million bags, a trend which pulled down prices.

Southeast Asia contributes significantly to the global coffee sector, with Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines being among the top five fastest growing coffee retail markets by volume between 2017-2021, according to Mintel’s new research on coffee.

Indonesia’s coffee market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.4%, Vietnam at a rate of 9.2% and Philippines by 6.7%. The remaining two fastest growing markets are Turkey (6.8%) and Mexico (6.1%).

In the global retail market by volume the US accounts for an estimated 607,000 tonnes, Brazil with 425,000 tonnes, Germany with 424,000 tonnes, Japan with 304,000 tonnes, and Indonesia with 268,000 tonnes.

Consistent with the trend in convenience food and beverage, the ready-to-drink coffee category is showing signs of growth. In Asia Pacific, RTD coffee is expected to rise from $2.42 billion in 2018 to $2.87 in 2023, according to a Research and Markets analysis.

Bühler eyes next-level development in SEA

Such positive figures are attractive to food processing manufacturers like Bühler AG which is throwing its support behind Southeast Asia’s burgeoning food industry. The Swiss company provides a range of solutions across the entire value chain including bean to chocolate bar, grain to cereal bar, nut to nut bar, grain to baked goods and sugar to candy.  

Bühler’s solutions are a good fit to coffee and rice production in Asia.  Coffee in particular is especially popular in Vietnam and Thailand, but the company is also pushing to develop the market in Myanmar, says Vianney d’Hostel, regional marketing manager at Buhler (Thailand) Ltd, during ProPak Asia 2018. It’s the right time to do so because Myanmar’s government is reviving the coffee industry after it was overlooked for years, despite its capability to produce strains of arabica and catimor coffees, says the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation.

With its expertise in the roasting process, Bühler AG is helping develop local coffee production.

In rice production, Bühler has the technology for the entire process, that includes cleaning, hulling, polishing, as well as optical sorters, control systems and accessories to make rice export-worthy. The company also offers turnkey supply, installation and commissioning of rice mills.

Bühler has offices in Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, Taiwan and Australia. Its office in Cambodia is strong in the rice business, and a factory in Vietnam specialises in rice equipment and services SEA. The company helps customers raise their rice quality level to export level. This is true in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam that export rice globally. Bühler also wants to do the same in Myanmar as well as Indonesia to boost their export capacity.

Advanced, high-capacity sorting

Among Bühler’s latest solutions that prove to be a boon to coffee and rice producers is its most advanced, high capacity SORTEX A MultiVision, an inspection system aimed at subtle colour detection, colour grading/grouping, foreign material removal and the reduction of toxins.

It’s long-life, solid state LED lighting option suits various applications, requires less maintenance and has low cost of ownership. Its high- speed ejectors precisely fire at the unwanted product minimising the loss of “good” product.  

Helping the sorter scores points for product safety is its InGaAs (NIR, SWIR) technology and Broad Spectrum lighting efficiently removes foreign material which is of the same colour.  It’s PROfile (shape) technology meanwhile distinguishes objects such as sticks, stones and other foreign material from a wide range of applications using shape characteristics.

Targeted at start-up businesses and small-scale industrial operations gunning to produce top-quality coffee, Bühler’s RoastMaster™20 has a capacity ranging up to 70 kg of green beans per hour. It uses hot air to ensure a uniform roast by allowing all the hot air to pass through the rotating drum and transfers its heat directly to the beans in a homogeneous way. This hot air pathway ensures a high proportion of convective heat transfer rather than to heat the drum from below. Other features of the roaster are separate heating and cooling fans which allow to roast and cool at the same time, and an innovative and easy-to-use PLC control system that ensures quality consistency during production but also leaves room for manual intervention to steer the processing when necessary.

Vianney d’Hostel, regional marketing manager at Buhler (Thailand) Ltd interviewed at ProPak Asia; behind him the company’s Sortex A Multivision optical sorter for small to large capacities of grains, nuts, seeds, coffee, and other commodities. The sorter analyses products for colour, shape and size, and detects all known defects and foreign materials.

Process flexibility for flavour signature

Each coffee variety is unique by nature and requires individual roasting conditions to transform the full intrinsic flavor potential into great flavor. The RoastMaster™20 is equipped with a fully variable burner for flexible energy input. The frequency converter on the main fan allows for variable speed and optimized air-to-bean-ratio during the different stages of the process. Regardless whether you prefer traditional or non-conventional profiles, the sophisticated multistep process control software inspires profile roasting for best flavor generation.

Data management and next generation connectivity.
The future-safe concept includes an easy-to-use PLC control system with integrated touch panel, recipe management, online trend monitoring, batch report creation and safety features. In addition, the easy data export via USB port, online data transfer to external third-party process monitoring software and remote HMI visualization and process control ensure quality consistency during production.

References

https://www.teaandcoffee.net/20557/news/coffee-hits-new-export-record-in-coffee-year-2017-18/

https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/4q37mc/asiapacific?w=4

https://store.mintel.com/coffee-global-annual-review-2018?utm_campaign=9527456_PR%20-%20Coffee%20APAC%20-%20May%202018&utm_medium=email&utm_source=dotm&dm_i=2174,5O7FK,K1EU0E,M2GR9,1

https://theaseanpost.com/article/rice-onomics-southeast-asia-0