About Us
COEX's main trading operation, COEX Coffee International, is located in the heart of Miami, Florida. With more than 40 employees, the Miami office trades over 3 million bags annually with companies in North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
In support of the Miami trading operation, COEX owns and operates several representative offices in producing countries. These offices are tasked with supplying ground-level information on the local markets, purchasing from suppliers, quality control, and logistics. These offices operate independently of the export operations and provide the Miami office with greater risk management, information, and depth of contact in the local market.
Our History
History, tradition, and family have helped to shape what is known today as the COEX Coffee Group. It all began in 1863 when a young Spanish immigrant by the name of Emilio Belismelis y Picazo arrived in El Salvador and began consolidating a family business which represented banking, housing, cement and agricultural interests.
Antonio Belismelis Alvarez, grandson of Emilio, took a special interest in the family's coffee interest and quickly transformed Hacienda Santa Adela, a family owned farm, into an important coffee plantation producing upwards of 20,000 quintals per crop year. Antonio's son, Juan Antonio devoted himself to the family's coffee operation and was instrumental in the development of the family's coffee plantations and mills.
From this simple beginning, the company has steadily developed into one of the strongest and most solid export operations, first in El Salvador and then throughout the Latin American region. COEX (Comercial Exportadora S.A.) was established in 1975, and was based out of El Trapiche Coffee Mill which employed 6 full time and 50 part-time workers during the peak of the crop. Initial volumes of 25,000 quintals and 20 producer clients have since grown to over 325,000 quintals processed with more than 2,300 producer clients in El Salvador alone.
