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C-Market: The global exchange and price discovery marketplace where coffee is traded daily as a commodity. 54 years ago a new coffee trading contract that used the futures market for Central American coffees (thus the “C” in C-Market) to establish floor prices began to replace the “U-Contract” (Universal Contract). This contract and the exchange system in which it operates is not only a price discovery mechanism but also serves a stabilization function and seeks to standardize trading practices. Sometimes referred to simply as “the market.” One can be forgiven for thinking the “C” actually stands for “complicated.”

Trees were brought from Guatemala to be planted in the southern state of Chiapas in 1847, which would quickly grow to become the second largest producing state behind Veracruz. The state of Oaxaca turned to coffee when the advent of synthetic dyes devastated their cochineal dye industry.  Oaxaca would become the third largest producer of Mexican coffee by 1889.