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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Starbucks buying more Fair Trade coffee beans |
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by Kathy Mulady, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
(No verified email address) |
23 Oct 2001
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Starbucks buying more Fair Trade coffee beans |
Starbucks buying more Fair Trade coffee beans
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
October 19, 2001
By Kathy Mulady
Starbucks Coffee announced yesterday that it will buy a million pounds of Fair Trade Certified coffee within the next 18 months, and also is giving $1 million to be used for capital investments, quality improvement, credit, and other initiatives to boost the standard of living for coffee farmers.
The Seattle-based coffee company will also begin offering Fair Trade coffee once a month as its coffee of the day.
Starbucks was unable to say specifically last night how much Fair Trade coffee it purchased last year.
"This is substantially more," said Dennis Stefanacci, senior vice president of corporate responsibility at Starbucks. "We have been committed to this program for a long time and have been looking for a sufficient supply. As we find more coffee, we will buy more."
The $1 million will be administered through Calvert Social Investment Foundation to the farmers.
"In a time when coffee farmers around the world are struggling to support their families and keep their farms, coffee companies like Starbucks need to take a leadership role in helping stabilize this unfortunate, and in some cases, life-threatening situation in coffee growing regions," said Orin Smith, president and chief executive of Starbucks.
Starbucks plans to buy 1 million pounds of Fair Trade green (unroasted) coffee that meets the company's quality standards in the next 12 to 18 months.
Starbucks will encourage its college and university accounts to sell Fair Trade coffee as its main offering beginning in January.
The company also plans to begin offering Fair Trade Certified coffee in some of its international markets early next year.
Starbucks, which has been criticized for not brewing Fair Trade Coffee in its stores often enough, is planning to begin offering Fair Trade Certified coffee as its coffee of the day at all of its stores on the 20th of each month starting in spring.
The Seattle-based coffee company, which has more than 2,900 stores in the United States, entered into an agreement with TransFair USA in April and began selling Fair Trade coffee in its stores last October.
TransFair certifies Fair Trade coffee, guaranteeing that farmers will receive $1.26 per pound for the beans.
A glut of coffee on the world market is keeping prices low and forcing farmers to abandon their fields. Yesterday, coffee for December delivery was selling for 46 cents a pound on the Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange in New York.
Paul Rice, executive director of TransFair USA, based in Oakland, Calif., said farmers in Mexico, forced to sell their coffee through middlemen, are getting 18 cents a pound.
The larger the market for Fair Trade coffee, the more farmers will benefit.
"In Nicaragua and Costa Rica, there is so much desperation, the only source of hope is the possibility of selling their coffee to fair trade," said Rice.
"This is a huge purchase for us," said company spokeswoman Audrey Lincoff, "It is a significant commitment on our part."
P-I reporter Kathy Mulady can be reached at 206-448-8131 or kathymulady (at) seattlepi.com |
