Ken and Marshall are correct. The information is very complicated and open to misinterpretation. For example, a small farmer likely would not even deal directly with a US consolidator. He would use a shipper in his country to find a partially full container to hitch a ride with. It could even go a few stages back, in that he might use someone who uses someone, etc etc. He might not even be capable of filling out the forms necessary, or if he was, he might not have time to get to the port and do it.

All along the way it seems (except in true direct deals) middlemen are taking a cut and probably earning it. It was a bit refreshing to see that a company I bought from actually brought in four containers under their own name. They very well could have used middlemen at the port of origin, however.

I happened to subscribe to this service for a non-coffee related reason. It probably is of no use other than to provide a window into an interesting set of relationships. I just find the business to be interesting because I know little about how it really works and take for granted the fact that magically some coffee is available to me.

The other thing that my initial look at the data drove home made me feel like an ant going to the same grocery store as an elephant.