Coffee

Despite good intentions, most consumers who shop according to their social convictions don't know how much of their money makes it to the people they hope to help. Critics say too many fair trade dollars wind up in the pockets of retailers and middlemen, including nonprofit organizations.  read more »

Coffee is one of the most powerful and universal commodities in the world today. It is the second most traded commodity after petroleum and a vital source of export earnings for many of the developing countries that grow it.  read more »

This report is a first attempt to increase understanding of the social impacts of environmentally-driven trade.  read more »

A review and analysis of what is known about the U.S. organic market and expectations for its growth and development.  read more »

This document examines the world organic coffee scene by following up and expanding on what was said in the round table discussion. It is based on a compilation of information from a variety of unofficial sources with links to the organic coffee market. The statistical value of the data presented should, therefore, be treated with caution and should only serve as a rough guide.  read more »

Winners and losers in the re-structuring of the global coffee marketing chain.
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A look at coffee production in Haiti, prepared for the USAID-funded Haiti hillside agricultural program.  read more »

There is a crisis destroying the livelihoods of 25 million coffee producers around the world. The price of coffee has fallen by almost 50 percent in the past three years to a 30-year low. Long-term prospects are grim. Developing-country coffee farmers, mostly poor smallholders, now sell their coffee beans for much less than they cost to produce – only 60 percent of production costs in Vietnam’s Dak Lak Province, for example. Farmers sell at a heavy loss while branded coffee sells at a hefty profit. The coffee crisis has become a development disaster whose impacts will be felt for a long time.  read more »

To what extent is global economic change mediated by national-level policies? Are global corporations adopting the same strategies in different countries or do they address varying local circumstances in different ways? Do governments in developing countries have any meaningful regulatory powers left? How can they use them to the advantage of their citizens? This paper seeks to address some of these issues by studying the dynamics of coffee market reforms in three East African countries against the background of the recent restructuring of the global coffee marketing chain. The paper focuses on two relatively neglected areas of inquiry: (1) changes in the identity, market share and organization of actors involved in commodity markets and their contractual/power relationships in the marketing chain; and (2) changes in the assessment, monitoring, and valuation of quality parameters in commodity trade. The author highlights the consequences of different trajectories of domestic market reforms and assesses the strategic choices available to producing country governments vis à vis corporate power and donor pressure towards liberalization and deregulation.  read more »

Like many primary products, coffee has long been characterised as a commodity with falling terms of trade and volatile prices. Yet in recent years there has been growing product differentiation in final markets, with premium prices being earned and providing high and sustainable incomes. So far these product rents have been almost entirely appropriated by residents of high income economies. However, to the extent that growers learn to improve their product through the systematic application of knowledge throughout the value chain, and consumers are taught to recognise that product variety and quality are determined in the growing rather than the roasting stage of the chain, an alternative outcome is possible. The paper outlines what knowledge flows are necessary and concludes with an assessment of who needs to do what if this more favourable outcome for growers is to be realised.  read more »