In May 2019, the Kijani Hai team installed a Bühler DA MultiVision optical sorter to the middle of its new export line, before bulking and after the gravity table separation. The sorter features a high-resolution RGB color camera which enables Kijani Hai to detect up to five color defects in one sorting pass, minimizing the need for product re-sorting. The DA MultiVision has allowed Kijani Hai greater control of its operations. “With the color sorter we can process much faster,” Wield says.
Indeed, he shares the company’s notable cost savings as a result of using the optical sorter. “In general, we would expect a physical loss of 0.2% of the coffee (approximately 15.000 USD), but without hand-picking, the losses are much closer to 0.0%.
“Our processing data also shows that the cost of hand-picking is 1.4 USD per 60 kg bags or 23 USD/MT. The marginal cost of machine processing is 0.29 USD per 60 kg bag or 4.8 USD/MT. On the 2.500 MT that we processed this year, the saving has been around 45.500 USD – excluding building and depreciation costs.” Thanks to its investment in the latest technologies such as the DA MultiVision, in addition to the South African market, Kijani Hai is now able to export its coffee to Germany, Holland, Italy, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, US, and North Africa.
“Looking ahead, we hope to expand internally within Tanzania and externally as we’re always looking to bring Tanzanian coffee to new customers. CTCS will be maintaining its focus on East Africa and Central America – we eagerly anticipate whatever the future holds,” Wield concludes.