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PEOPLE BEFORE PROFIT:
THE COFFEE CASE
source: www.fairtrade.net/sites/
impact/facts.html
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After oil, coffee is the Southern hemisphere’s most important export product, directly involving 20-25 million farmers and workers and normally ensuring the livelihood of over 100 million people. - Between 2000 and 2003, world market coffee prices halved to US$ 0,45-0,55/lb: far below the farmers’ costs to produce the crop…
- at the same time, the world’s biggest coffee buyer Nestlé posted a 2001 profit of about €4,5 billion: 16% higher than the year before...
Fair trade offers a fair price that is higher than the world market price. It covers production costs and a premium to be invested in social, environmental or economic projects as decided by the farmers/workers: - in 2002, producer organisations selling to the international fair trade market earned an estimated US $ 41 million more than they would have made with the volatile (but usually sinking) world market prices.
| | World coffee price
(US $ / lb) | Fair Trade Price
(US $ / lb) | | 2000 | 1.25 | - | | 2002 | 0.38 | - | | 2003 | 0.55 | 1.25 |
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