After the Non-Fatwa, Kopi Luwak Farming...

Simple economics would suggest that the best way of keeping a price high is to ensure that there is limited supply. So, the decision to move towards mass production of Kopi Luwak by farming the civets that eat the coffee beans and excrete them partially digested appears to be a recipe for market disaster.

I am not an economist. However, in my mind, it is pretty simple. If you increase supply without a commensurate increase in demand then it will not be too long before there is oversupply and downward pressure on the price of the product.

Anyways, the idea is that civets are going to be bred in captivity and then force-fed the coffee beans. This is supposedly a sure-fire money spinner as collectors of the valuable civet dung need go no further than scampering up and down under the civet cages. The image that comes to mind is egg farming; the rows upon rows of caged chickens popping out eggs.

It is interesting that the decision to start small-scale farming comes on the heels of the recent decision by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) not to issue a fatwa prohibiting Muslims from drinking the coffee. According to the MUI, Kopi Luwak is halal (permitted for consumption) if it has been thoroughly and properly washed. I wonder what the quality assurance procedure is on this "thorough" cleaning arrangement? After all, the whole point of Civet Coffee is that the beans are partially digested by the stomach enzymes of the civet.

The non-fatwa has inspired PT Perkebunan Nusantara XII to see an opportunity to ramp up production and presumably ratchet up profits into the bargain.

The current price range for a cup of the Kopi Luwak in Jakarta is somewhere between IDR 90,000 and IDR 110,000, so it is not cheap. Or for those that drink their coffee at the franchise havens of Gloria Jeans or Starbucks, it is the equivalent of a couple of the biggest and most expensive brews on offer at those franchises.

Kopi Luwak is an acquired taste, kind of like Durien (Duren), some people love it and some people hate it. Kopi Luwak is a nice coffee, but I have never been convinced that it was ever worth the price charged.

Jakarta and Eid ul-Fitr

The Jakarta Population and Civil Registration Agency is guesstimating that some 2.7 million residents would have done the pulang kampung thing and returned back to their villages. The impact of this is pretty obvious when one hits the streets of J-town during the Eid holidays. It is noticeably quieter, there is less traffic, and one can go about their business without too much hassle.

The flip side of this is that when these 2.7 million residents start returning to the Big Durian they tend to bring along family members and friends who have been wowed by the seemingly endless opportunities available in Jakarta. It is thought that the population of Jakarta increases by 100,000 or so in the weeks after Eid.

The authorities in Jakarta have already stated unequivocally that they will be running a series of raids with the first of these slated for 23 October 2008. Any one caught without the necessary documentation will be sent back to whatever village they came from.

The influx of new residents is expected to see Jakarta's official population reach 9.1 million. This figure does not include the surrounding satellite cities of Bekasi, Tangerang, Bogor, or Depok.