EP1664 Part 4 of 5 | Benecke Entered Insolvency. COMSA Became a Creditor (Benecke and COMSA) | Map It Forward

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Episode Description

This is episode 4 of a five-part series on The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by Map It Forward with Rodolfo Peñalba, General Manager of COMSA, and Cristian Dubón, a board member and coffee producer from the cooperative in Honduras.

In Part 3, COMSA described delayed payments, growing concern about Benecke’s financial position, and its decision to continue fulfilling coffee contracts despite increasing financing pressure.

In this episode, we look at what happened after Benecke entered insolvency.

Rodolfo says he tried to contact Clemens von Storch after learning about Benecke’s financial situation but did not receive a response.

On December 10, 2025, Rodolfo says he spoke directly with Arturo Darboven.

According to Rodolfo, Arturo told him that the situation was nearly resolved and that COMSA would be paid on December 21.

That payment did not arrive.

COMSA says it continued asking for payment and was eventually told that it needed to submit documentation to the German insolvency proceedings in order to be formally recognised as a creditor.

With assistance from a contact in Germany, COMSA says it secured legal help and successfully registered its claim.

For a cooperative that believed it had fulfilled its coffee contracts, the process was unfamiliar.

Rodolfo and Cristian explain that COMSA’s contracts were FOB contracts, meaning the cooperative’s responsibility was to deliver the coffee to the port in Honduras and provide the required shipping documents.

From COMSA’s perspective, it fulfilled those obligations.

The dispute now sits within German insolvency proceedings that COMSA says it does not fully understand and did not anticipate having to navigate.

The conversation also raises another important question:

What happened to the coffee itself?

Rodolfo says Benecke used the bills of lading supplied by COMSA to collect the coffee and subsequently sold it, despite COMSA saying it had not been paid.

The episode discusses whether contractual or European coffee trading terms may have included protections relating to ownership of coffee before full payment.

That question remains legally significant and requires examination of the actual contracts, trading terms, shipment records and applicable German law.

COMSA also explains that its previous commercial relationship with Clemens and Benecke has effectively ended.

Rodolfo says the cooperative no longer wants another business relationship with Benecke. His position regarding Arturo Darboven is more cautious: he says he still has questions about Arturo’s role, particularly because of the payment assurance Rodolfo says he received from him on December 10.

In the final episode of the series, we step back from the immediate dispute and ask what the global coffee industry should learn from this case.

You can connect with COMSA here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1c5tTT89Rw/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/comsa_oficial/

Website: https://www.comsa.hn

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/comsa-oficial

Editor