Cerrado Mineiro Region D.O. Mark: Internationalization Strategy

Abstract

The specialty coffee market has been increasing consistently with growth rates above the traditional markets. The number of consumers who are willing to pay higher prices for high quality coffee has increased in recent years. The high-end independent coffee shops, known as HEICS, had spread all over the big cities such as New York, Shanghai, London and Berlin. Also, it’s intense the rivalry between world producers to positioned its product as high quality coffee. Colombia coffee has been a relevant marketing case demonstrating the power of country origin image. Brazil, instead, has a powerful image as world leader coffee producer but not necessarily connected with high quality. Cerrado Mineiro Region (CMR) and its Designation of Origin (D.O.) mark could be a starting point to change this scenario. The article presents the CMR D.O. mark in the perspective of its internationalization process. CMR was the first coffee region in Brazil to obtain the Indication of Origin in 2005 and the first region in the world to issue a D.O. seal for green coffee as well for roasting coffee in 2013. In 2017, there were 57 brands using the D.O. seal in their coffee packages, including one American roaster selling at the retailer Wholefoods.