Futures prices for coffee, which is the second most traded global commodity after oil, have plummeted recently. The Coffee Bosses (aggregators, middle men, importers and mass market retailers) benefit, while coffee producers worldwide face starvation or the end of their way of life, again. What is most troubling is that is has only been 7 years since the start of the recovery from the last crash in coffee.
The Coffee C contract is the world benchmark for Arabica coffee. Check this link for historic prices. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/commodity/coffee . This is how the Coffee Colonialists cook up prices to keep their margins high, and prices to producers low. Right now the price is $1.03 USD. I has not been that low since 2006, which was the tail end of a multi-year depression in global coffee prices that decimated the farmers, their families and their plantations.
What can you do?
Well, buying fair trade coffee is a start. Fairly traded coffee is certified (verified) that the roaster has paid a fair price for the coffee, provided access to loans, and a bunch of other generally good things that the "first-world" buyers of coffee think are good. Keep in mind that there are arguments against fair trade. These are focused mainly on the restrictions this system can place on the growers in a region, the kinds of negative behaviour it can drive in growers, and how some workers are excluded from sharing in the benefits of increased prices. Note that Fair Trade it is not a guarantee of sustainable farming practices - these come separately from the fair trade logos, either as a result of organic, shade tree, or bird friendly certifications or practices, or as a result of the growers own initiative.
Neither Fair Trade or sustainable practices are a guarantee of quality. This is where Direct Trade come in. This approach sees roasters working with local growers of coffee on a micro-scale to arrange their own relationships with the coffee farmers. In return for farmers delivering the highest quality coffee, Direct Trade buyers pay a premium above Fair Trade prices for what is arguably the best coffee available. Period. At its best Direct Trade coffee does several things; it breaks the "averaging effect" that aggregators and other middle-men have on the quality of coffee made available to the rest of the world from a growing area. Direct Trade roasters select coffee based on premium quality directly from the farms where it was grown. They are not buying coffee that has been mixed with beans from inferior plants, poor handling or carless storage. These traders also pay a premium price, directly to the grower of the coffee, not to a middle man. This often has the effect of enabling the growers to purchase their own processing equipment, so that they can process their own coffee, rather than paying a middle-man to do that. Heck, sometimes it is a simple as having the funds to purchase a truck that puts the growers in the "drivers seat" so that they can decide where and how to have their crop processed. Finally, Direct Trade roasters are in a position, because of the premium they pay, to insist that farmers use sustainable methods for farming. Of course there are arguments against the Direct Trade approach to coffee. Without strict and published criteria and a certification process and administrator (and fees!) Direct Trade is self regulated by the participants. Unless they can provide you proof, you are basically taking the roaster's word for it that they are doing all the good they claim to be doing.
Is this the end?
No way! If more consumers and roasters insist on Fair and Direct traded coffee, the benefits are going to be enjoyed by everybody that really matters, the real people, us! Probably the single biggest thing you can do is to go local. Remember that the local coffee roasters, shops, and espresso bars in your area are not benefiting from the depression in prices. They are too far down the coffee food-chain to benefit. All of the extra profit manufactured by the futures market is kept by the coffee Bosses that are processing, importing and distributing the commodity.
This means you need to stop going to the big chain coffee whores for their sleazy brew. It might sometimes be cheap, but it is always dirty.
You just can not argue against the benefit to the people growing the coffee of being paid more for their crops than the coffee "machine" is trying get a way with paying them. Remember, the futures market for coffee is only there to benefit market traders and the Coffee Bosses, who are profiting from selling us lousy coffee.
No comments:
Post a Comment