Top Coffee Producing Countries - WorldAtlas.com Economics Top Coffee Producing Countries The top coffee producers on the planet. The 10 nations who produce and export the most coffee per year. A map of the world made up of coffee beans With a café on nearly every corner in countless cities around the globe, it comes as no surprise that coffee is one of the top commodities worldwide. As the global third most consumed beverage, after water and tea, coffee beans are in high demand everywhere. The top producing nations each produce millions of kilograms of coffee beans that find their way into the hands of eager consumers. Second only to oil, coffee is the world's second most traded commodity , with about half a trillion cups drank per year. Not only used for brewing a cup of joe, the coffee bean (through decaffeination) provides caffeine for beverages (cola), pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Despite the different flavours there are two main commercially grown beans Arabica which accounts for 70% of coffee and the Robusta bean which is far cheaper and easier to grow.

These are the ten nations that the International Coffee Organization named the world's top producers of coffee: 10 – Guatemala 224,871 US tons Guatemalan Coffee Workers Empty Beans for Sorting Guatemala produced 204,000,000 kilograms of coffee beans in 2015, and their production numbers have remained fairly consistent over the past few years. Coffee beans are most abundant in Guatemala in years where the temperature hovers between 16 and 32°C, and at altitudes between 500 and 5,000 metres above sea level. Guatemala was Central America's top producers till it was overtaken by Honduras in 2011. Guatemala came into the coffee game predominantly to find an export to replace indigo and cochineal, two of their early exports that were rendered useless once chemical dyes were invented in the 1800s. At the time, the government began a policy of support for the industry by offering trade and tax benefits.

In the 1960's the government further pushed for greater global demand for Guatemalan coffee through the establishment of Anacafé (Asociación Nacional del Café), a marketing association which, to this day, continues to promote the nation's coffee products worldwide. 9 – Mexico 257,940 US tons Ancient Pyramids in Mexico In 2015, Mexico produced over 234,000,000 kilograms of coffee beans. The nation predominantly produces high quality Arabica beans grown in the coastal regions near the border of Guatemala and is responsible for majority of U.S. coffee imports. In the 1990s there was a crisis in Mexico's coffee production, as the International Coffee Agreement was dismantled and worldwide coffee prices and export quotas were no longer strictly controlled, leading to an inability for Mexico to compete in the global market. This decline in coffee prices and production led to lost income and social issues throughout the nation of Mexico.

While coffee production declined over the 90s and into the 2000s, steady demand from the United States has led to a recovery in the Mexican coffee market, from an all time low of 1.7 million bags (60 kg) in 2005, to 4.0 million in 2014. 8 – Uganda 314,489 US tons The Ugandan Virunga Mountains While Uganda may not come to mind when you think of coffee production, at 285,300,000 kilograms produced in 2015, it is the Central African nation's top-earning export. It has moved past Mexico in 2015 to become the 8th largest producer of coffee. The nation grows both Robusta beans – a crop native to the Kibale forest area – as well as Arabica beans from nearby Ethiopia. Coffee is a vital part of the Ugandan economy, with a large portion of the population working in coffee related industries.

Coffee production was initially a reasonably unsuccessful state-controlled sector, however, after government privatization in 1991, a strong revival of the sector was seen, leading to a 5100% increase in production since 1989. However, the government does still exert control on the industry, with flow out of the country controlled by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority. 7 – Honduras 380,296 US tons Green and Red Coffee Berries on Tree, Honduras Honduras produced 345,000,000 kilograms of coffee in 2015, almost matching its peak crop from 2011's crop of 354,180 kilos. It has since 2011 become Central America's top coffee producer. They still face problems attributed to a lack of national branding – while most people recognize Colombian or Ethiopian coffee, beans from Honduras are mainly used in blends and are therefore less recognizable to the average consumer.

However, coffee remains a vital part of the Honduran economy; it is the largest producer in Central America, the coffee industry continually provides employment and revenue for a large part of the population, and it likely kept the nation's economy afloat during the 2009 political crisis and coup d'état. 6 – India 385,786 US tons Cup of Coffee with Cinnamon, Sugar, and Raw Beans - Thinkstock.com While India may not be the first nation that comes to mind when it comes to coffee production, they produced 349,980,000 kilograms of beans in 2015. Not just any region of the diverse nation is suited for coffee production, the majority of growing is done in the hilly tracts of South Indian states. The beans are grown by small growers in monsoon rainfall conditions, and often planted alongside spices such as cardamom and cinnamon, which gives the coffee a spicy taste and aroma. In 2004, Indian Coffee brand Tata won 3 gold medals at the Grand Cus De Cafe Competition.

As might be expected, coffee isn't the most popular beverage in the country of 1.25 billion people, this title goes to tea. As such, 80% of India's coffee production is bound for export purposes, with the main buyers being Europe and Russia. 5 – Ethiopia 423,287 US tons Coffee Roasted in the Traditional Ethiopian Manner Ethiopia produces large volumes of coffee beans every year, with 384,000,000 kilograms in 2015 alone. Ethiopia is the geographic home of Arabica coffee, the most popular beans worldwide. It is no small part of their economy – over 28% of Ethiopia's yearly exports are a result of coffee – and it is estimated that 15 million citizens are employed in coffee production. Ethiopia has a very rich coffee culture. For over 1100 years, beans with a stimulating effect have been noted in the nation by unlucky farmers and shepherds whose herds happened to eat them. Since domestication of the plant and the beginning of farming the coffee bean, regional variants of the Arabica bean have been developed, each with their own characteristic name and taste.

The Harar, Limu, Sidamo, and Yirgacheffe beans are all trademarked varieties of the Arabica bean, with the rights owned and protected by the government of Ethiopia. 4 – Indonesia 814,629 US tons Palm Civets are Producers of the World's Most Expensive Coffee Though they may not be as internationally known as a top producer, the nation of Indonesia produced over 660,000,000 kilograms of coffee beans in 2015. Indonesia has opted for a quantity over quality method, as the climate is better suited for the production of lower-quality Robusta beans (less valued than the Arabica beans that come from nations like Brazil and Colombia) but it has an ideal geographical location for coffee plantation, as it is near the equator and has numerous mountainous regions that are well suited for coffee production. Coffee production was introduced to Indonesia by Dutch colonists and production continued on after colonization as Indonesia's climate is well suited for the plant. Coffee plantations currently cover over 1 million hectares of Indonesia's territory, with over 90% of the cropland being worked by small-scale producers.

One high quality coffee that Indonesia is famous for is Kopi Luwak, an expensive bean that has a unique production method. The palm civit, a cat like animal which lives in the jungles of South East Asia, eats the raw coffee berries yet cannot process the hard beans on the inside of the berry. The digestive juices of the civit partially break down the bean, and upon defecation the "deposits" are collected, cleaned, and sold as Kopi Luwak beans. Think that's weird? Because only 500kg of the "Cat Poop Coffee" is produced per year, a cup of coffee brewed from these beans can sell for up to $80. 3 – Colombia 892,871 US tons Coffee Fields in the Colombian Andes Mountains Colombian coffee is famous worldwide, perhaps partially due to the well-known advertisements for the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia which featured a character named Juan Valdez. However, climate has recently been playing a negative role in Colombian coffee production. Between 1980 and 2010, temperatures have slowly risen, as has precipitation, both factors that jeopardize the climate requirements necessary to produce the type of bean favored in Colombia.

It was traditionally second to Brazil for coffee production but has moved to third due the rapidly expanding production of Vietnam. Even with the effect of climate, it has an output of 810,000,000 kilograms of coffee beans in 2015, Colombia remains a key player in the international coffee game. 2 – Vietnam 1,818,811 US tons Traditional Vietnamese Coffee - Thinkstock.com While many are familiar with Vietnamese coffee, a signature drink where the coffee is mixed with sweetened condensed milk, Vietnam is the second largest coffee producing nation in the world – 1,650,000,000 kilograms in 2015 alone. While there was understandably a hiatus during and after the Vietnam war, coffee remained a huge part of the Vietnamese economy, with the only greater export rice being rice. Vietnam rapid expansion in coffee production which was only 6,000 tons in 1975 and now is almost 2 million has moved them to second place.

1 – Brazil 2,859,502 US tons Brazil Tops the Worlds Coffee Producers - Thinkstock.com While Brazil is perceived as the leading exporter of gorgeous models, they also are the undisputed largest coffee-producing nation in the world. In 2014, Brazil produced a staggering 2,594,100,000 kilograms of coffee beans. It is not a new development, as Brazil has been the highest global producer of coffee beans for over 150 years. Coffee plantations cover about 27,000 square kilometers of Brazil with the majority located in Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo, and Parana, three southeastern states where the climate and temperature are ideal for coffee production. Brazil also distinguishes itself from other coffee producing nations in that Brazilians process coffee with the dry process (unwashed coffee), where the coffee cherries are dried in the sun rather than washed in a wet process. Top Coffee Producing Countries By Edward Barbour-Lacey HANOI – Vietnam could be poised to become the world’s largest producer and exporter of coffee. Currently, the country is the world’s second largest coffee exporter, behind only Brazil.

However, many experts believe that Vietnam has the potential to overtake Brazil thanks to its favorable climate conditions, lower cost production and a bumper coffee crop. The main challenge that Vietnam must overcome before it reaches the top position is the need to improve its product quality by investing more in research, harvest technology and processing facilities. RELATED: Dezan Shira & Associates’ Business Advisory Services In recent years, coffee has become one of Vietnam’s key agricultural export products – with 95 percent of output being shipped abroad. Per year, on average, coffee exports from Vietnam bring in around US$3 billion in revenue to the country. According to a report issued by Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the first seven months of 2014, Vietnam exported 1.12 million tons of coffee beans, worth US$2.31 billion. When compared to the same period last year, coffee exports increased by 26.8 percent in volume and 21.9 percent in value. RELATED: Coffee Prices Decline in Response to Record Vietnam Crop, Weather Issues Germany and the United States are the largest Vietnamese coffee importers.

However, Belgium is also fast becoming a key market for Vietnamese coffee – in the first half of 2014, exports to Belgium increased by 2.5 times in volume and 2.35 times in value compared to the first half of 2013. As the country becomes more dominant in the coffee industry, international coffee companies are helping to further build up the expertise of local Vietnamese suppliers. For example, last year, the U.S. company, Mondelez International, invested in a project to empower Vietnamese coffee farming entrepreneurs. As a result of this project, Vietnamese suppliers will be able to strengthen their agricultural and business skills, as well as increase their growing capacity. Like many companies in Asia, Mondelez International is aiming to improve its supply chain and achieve more sustainable operations in order to meet the growing demand of coffee consumption in Asia. Asia is a key growth market for coffee. According to the International Coffee Organization, over the past 10 years, the demand for coffee grew 4 percent annually in the region – the growth rate in other developed countries was only 1.1 percent. Particular areas of interest for coffee merchants are Thailand, Korea, India and Indonesia, where coffee consumption is growing fast.

China also represents a key market where coffee consumption is expected to see strong growth in future years – in large cities, like Shanghai and Beijing, coffee consumption is already comparable to European cities. Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates . Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email vietnam@dezshira.com or visit . Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. Related Reading In this issue of Vietnam Briefing Magazine, we outline the various sourcing models available for foreign investors – representative offices, service companies and trading companies – and discuss how to decide which structure best suits the sourcing needs of your business. Manufacturing in Vietnam to Sell to ASEAN and China In this issue of Vietnam Briefing Magazine, we introduce our readers to manufacturing in Vietnam as a key part of their business strategy within the ASEAN region and beyond.

Specifically, we explain the new ASEAN Free Trade Area, outline what foreign investors can look forward to when creating their manufacturing presence in the country, and introduce the country’s key tax points. Share this: Coffee @ nationalgeographic.com TOP Colombia (10.5 million bags) Colombia is the only South American country with both Atlantic and Pacific portsan invaluable aid to shipping. The crops economic importance is such that all cars entering Colombia are sprayed for harmful bacteria. Colombias coffee grows in the moist, temperate foothills of the Andes, where the combination of high altitude and moist climate makes for an especially mild cup. Notable Beans: Medellin, Supremo, Bogotá TOP Indonesia (6.7 million bags) The Dutch unwittingly gave coffee a nickname in the late 17th century, when they began the first successful European coffee plantation on their island colony of Java (now part of Indonesia). Top-grade arabicas are still produced on Java as well as on Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Flores, but the Indonesian archipelago is most notable as the worlds largest producer of robusta beans.

Notable Beans: Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi (Celebes) TOP Vietnam (5.8 million bags) French missionaries first brought coffee to Vietnam in the mid-1860s, but production remained negligible as late as 1980. In the 1990s, however, Vietnamese coffee production has been ratcheted up at a furious pace. At least one trader worries that the industry is growing too quickly for its own good. The crops growing so fast that theres not an equivalent growth in processing, so youre looking at quality problems, he said from Daklak, Vietnams main coffee-growing region. Notable Beans: Vietnam specializes in robusta production. TOP Mexico (5 million bags) Coffee came to Mexico from Antilles at the end of the 18th century, but was not exported in great quantities until the 1870s. Today approximately 100,000 small farms generate most Mexican coffee, and most of the beans come from the south. Mexico is the largest source of U.S. coffee imports.

Notable Beans: Altura, Liquidambar MS, Pluma Coixtepec TOP Ethiopia (3.8 million bags) The natural home of the arabica tree and the setting for most of coffees origin legends, Ethiopia is Africas top arabica exporter and leads the continent in domestic consumption. About 12 million Ethiopians make their living from coffee, whose name is said to be a derivation of Kaffa, the name of an Ethiopian province. Notable Beans: Harrar, Sidamo, Yirgacheffe TOP India (3.8 million bags) According to legend , India is the birthplace of coffee cultivation east of Arabia. Today coffee production is under the strict control of the Indian Coffee Board, which some say reduces economic incentive and thereby lowers quality. Notable Beans: Mysore, Monsooned Malabar TOP Guatemala (3.5 million bags) German immigrants initiated serious coffee cultivation in Guatemala in the 19th century. Today the countrys high-grown beans, particularly those grown on the southern volcanic slopes, are among the worlds best.

Notable Beans: Atitlan, Huehuetenango Côte dIvoire (3.3 million bags) In the mid-1990s Côte dIvoire was the number five coffee producer and second largest robusta producer. Why the decline? Some speculate that an emphasis on volume and a lack of investment and planning have lowered quality and per-acre productivity. Today most exports end up as mass-market coffee in Europe, especially France and Italy. Notable Bean: Côte dIvoire specializes in robusta production. TOP Uganda (3 million bags) Though Uganda grows precious little arabica, it is a key producer of robusta. That humble, hardy bean accounts for 75 percent of the countrys export revenue and provides employment for 80 percent of all rural workers. Efforts to diversify aside, Uganda is likely to remain beholden to the bean for the foreseeable future. Notable Bean: Bugisu How Vietnam became a coffee giant - BBC News BBC News How Vietnam became a coffee giant By Chris Summers BBC News 25 January 2014 Close share panel Image copyright Getty Images Think of coffee and you will probably think of Brazil, Colombia, or maybe Ethiopia.

But the world's second largest exporter today is Vietnam. How did its market share jump from 0.1% to 20% in just 30 years, and how has this rapid change affected the country? When the Vietnam war ended in 1975 the country was on its knees, and economic policies copied from the Soviet union did nothing to help. Collectivising agriculture proved to be a disaster, so in 1986 the Communist Party carried out a U-turn - placing a big bet, at the same time, on coffee. Coffee production then grew by 20%-30% every year in the 1990s. The industry now employs about 2.6 million people, with beans grown on half a million smallholdings of two to three acres each. This has helped transform the Vietnamese economy. In 1994 some 60% of Vietnamese lived under the poverty line, now less than 10% do.

Coffee Vietnamese style Ca phe da - Coffee served on a bed of ice Ca phe sua da - Coffee served with condensed milk, on ice Ca phe trung - like a cappuccino, except with the addition of an egg or two Kopi luwak - The process of making coffee by feeding beans to civets - a type of weasel - and then roasting the excreted beans "The Vietnamese traditionally drank tea, like the Chinese, and still do," says Vietnam-based coffee consultant Will Frith. Vietnamese people do drink it - sometimes with condensed milk, or in a cappuccino made with egg - but it's mainly grown as an export crop. Coffee was introduced to Vietnam by the French in the 19th Century and a processing plant manufacturing instant coffee was functioning by 1950. This is how most Vietnamese coffee is consumed, and is partly why about a quarter of coffee drunk in the UK comes from Vietnam. British consumers still drink a lot more of that than of fancy coffees, such as espressos, lattes and cappuccinos. High-end coffee shops mainly buy Arabica coffee beans, whereas Vietnam grows the hardier Robusta bean.

Find out more Image copyright AFP Watch The Coffee Trail , with reporter Simon Reeve, on BBC Two at 20:00 GMT on Sunday - or catch it later on the iPlayer Arabica beans contain between 1% to 1.5% caffeine while Robusta has between 1.6% to 2.7% caffeine, making it taste more bitter. There is a lot more to coffee, though, than caffeine. "Complex flavour chemistry works to make up the flavours inherent in coffee," says Frith. "Caffeine is such a small percentage of total content, especially compared to other alkaloids, that it has a very minute effect on flavour." Some companies, like Nestle, have processing plants in Vietnam, which roast the beans and pack it. But Thomas Copple, an economist at the International Coffee Organization in London, says most is exported as green beans and then processed elsewhere, in Germany for example. While large numbers of Vietnamese have made a living from coffee, a few have become very rich. Image copyright AFP Image caption Dang Le Nguyen Vu: Next step, an international coffee shop chain Take for example multi-millionaire Dang Le Nguyen Vu.

His company, Trung Nguyen Corporation, is based in Ho Chi Minh City - formerly Saigon - but his wealth is based in the Central Highlands around Buon Ma Thuot, the country's coffee capital. Chairman Vu, as he is nicknamed, owns five Bentleys and 10 Ferraris and Forbes magazine assessed him to be worth $100m (£60m). That's in a country where the average annual income is $1,300 (£790). Who buys Vietnam's coffee Vietnam produced 22m 60kg bags of coffee in 2012/13 Germany and the US imported about 2m Spain, Italy and Belgium/Luxembourg imported about 1.2m Japan, South Korea, Poland, France and the UK all imported in the region of 0.5m Source: ICO The expansion of coffee has also had downsides, however. Agricultural activity of any kind holds hidden dangers in Vietnam, because of the huge numbers of unexploded ordnance remaining in the ground after the Vietnam War. In one province, Quang Tri, 83% of fields are thought to contain bombs. Environmentalists also warn that catastrophe is looming.

WWF estimates that 40,000 square miles of forest have been cut down since 1973, some of it for coffee farms, and experts say much of the land used for coffee cultivation is steadily being exhausted. Image copyright AFP Vietnamese farmers are using too much water and fertiliser, says Dr Dave D'Haeze, a Belgian soil expert. "There's this traditional belief that you need to do that and nobody has really been trained on how to produce coffee," he says. Image copyright AFP Image caption Hanoi has independent coffee shops - last year it got its first Starbucks "Every farmer in Vietnam is the researcher of his own plot." Some people from Vietnam's many ethnic minorities also say they have been forced off their land. But Chairman Vu says coffee has been good for Vietnam. He is now planning to set up an international chain of Vietnamese-style coffee shops. "We want to bring Vietnamese coffee culture to the world. It isn't going to be easy but in the next year we want to compete with the big brands like Starbucks," he says.

"If we can take on and win over the US market we can conquer the whole world." Watch The Coffee Trail with Simon Reeve on BBC Two at 20:00 GMT on Sunday or later on the iPlayer . Coffee FAQ | Global Exchange What role does coffee play in the global economy? A: Coffee is the world's second most valuable traded commodity, behind only petroleum. There are approximately 25 million farmers and coffee workers in over 50 countries involved in producing coffee around the world. Coffee was traditionally developed as a colonial cash crop, planted by serfs or wage laborers in tropical climates on large plantations of landowners for sale in colonial countries. Coffee producers, like most agricultural workers around the world, are kept in a cycle of poverty and debt by the current global economy designed to exploit cheap labor and keep consumer prices low. An estimated 11 million hectares of the world's farmland are dedicated to coffee cultivation. The largest producer and exporter is Brazil, followed by Colombia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Mexico. Around the globe, the annual consumption of coffee has expanded to 12 billion pounds.

For more information about the history of Latin America and coffee, see Coffee and Power by Jeffrey Paige (in bibliography) What role does coffee play in the US economy? A: Coffee is the US's largest food import and second most valuable commodity only after oil. According to the International Coffee Organization, the US imported 2.72 billion pounds of coffee from September 2001 to September 2002. The US primarily purchases coffee from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, and Vietnam. The U.S. also buys coffee from Indonesia, Costa Rica, Peru, El Salvador, Ecuador, Venezuela, Honduras, Uganda, Thailand, Nicaragua, India, and Papua New Guinea. In the U.S. alone, over 130 million consumers are coffee drinkers. In recent years, new cafés have been opening at an explosive rate, making specialty coffee mainstream and increasing profit margins for specialty coffee roasters and retailers. The Specialty Coffee Association of America estimated that there are 10,000 coffee cafes and 2,500 specialty stores selling coffee. Chains represent 30% of all coffee retail stores, but the majority remain in the hands of independent owners or small family businesses. How are coffee prices currently set?

A: Coffee prices are set according to the New York "C" Contract market. The price of coffee fluctuates wildly in this speculative economy, generally hovering around fifty cents per pound. Most coffee is traded by speculators in New York, who trade approximately 8-10 times the amount of actual coffee produced each year. The single most influential factor in world coffee prices is the weather in Brazil. Droughts and frosts portend shortages of coffee and the price increases. Specialty coffee is often imported at a negotiated price over the C market, which is considered a 'quality premium'. Most of those premiums never reach the coffee farmer, but rather stay in the hands of the exporter. This creates a disincentive for farmers to increase their quality, as they do not receive the direct benefits of increased investment in producing better coffee. What is the commodity chain of the coffee industry? A: Coffee is an extremely powerful commodity, reigning as the world's most heavily traded product, behind petroleum, and the largest food import of the United States. The global commodity chain for coffee involves a string of producers, middlemen, exporters, importers, roasters, and retailers before reaching the consumer.

Coffee is a vital source of export for many of the developing countries that grow it. Some 20 million families in 50 countries now work directly in the cultivation of coffee; an estimated 11 million hectares of the world's farmland are dedicated to coffee cultivation. Arabica and Robusta are the two principle species of coffee harvested today. Approximately 70% of the world's production is the Arabica bean, used for higher-grade and specialty coffees, and 80% of this bean comes from Latin America. Robusta is grown primarily in Africa and Asia. Most small farmers sell directly to middlemen exporters who are commonly referred to as coyotes. These coyotes are known to take advantage of small farmers, paying them below market price for their harvests and keeping a high percentage for themselves. In contrast, large coffee estate owners usually process and export their own harvests that are sold at the prices set by the New York Coffee Exchange. However, extremely low wages ($2-3/day) and poor working conditions for farmworkers characterize coffee plantation jobs. Importers purchase green coffee from established exporters and large plantation owners in producing countries. Only those importers in the specialty coffee segment buy directly from the small farmer cooperatives.

Importers provide a crucial service to roasters who do not have the capital resources to obtain quality green coffee from around the world. Importers bring in large container loads and hold inventory, selling gradually through numerous small orders. Since many roasters rely on this service, importers wield a great deal of influence over the types of green coffee that are sold in the US. There are approximately 1200 roasters in the US today. Large roasters usually have one blend of recipes and sell to large retailers - the Big Three (Kraft, which owns Maxwell House and Sanka, owned by Philip Morris; Procter & Gamble, which owns Folgers and Millstone; and Nestle) maintain over 60% of total green bean volume. Microroasters, or those who roast up to 500 bags of coffee a year, offer the product we know as specialty coffee. Most roasters buy coffee from importers in small, frequent purchases. Roasters have the highest profit margin in the value chain, thus making them an important link in the commodity chain. Retailers usually purchase packaged coffee from roasters, although an increasing number of retailers are also roasting their own beans for sale.

The Specialty Coffee Association of America estimated that there are 10,000 cafes and 2,500 specialty stores selling coffee. Chains represent approximately 30% of all coffee retail stores. However, supermarkets and traditional retail chains are still the primary channel for both specialty coffee and non-specialty coffee, and they hold about 60% of marketshare of total coffee sales. Around the globe, the annual consumption of coffee is 12 billion pounds and in the U.S. alone, over 130 million consumers are coffee drinkers. What is the economic situation of small farmers in the coffee industry? A: Coffee is produced both on large plantations and by small farmers. Typically, Fair Trade farmers cultivate less than 3 hectares of coffee and harvest 1,000-3,000 pounds of unroasted coffee a year. Small farmers are perhaps more aptly defined by those farmers who rely principally on their own families' labor. This makes Fair Trade potentially representative of an estimated 75% of all coffee farmers. Many coffee farmers receive prices for their harvest that can be less than the costs of production, forcing them into a cycle of poverty and debt.

They are often forced to sell to middlemen who pay them half the market price, generally between $.30-.50 per pound. Family farmers usually bring in a cash income of $500-$1,000 a year for their coffee. What are the labor problems and working conditions in the coffee industry? A: Conditions for coffee workers on large plantations varies widely, but most are paid the equivalent to sweatshop wages and toil under abysmal working conditions. In Guatemala for example, coffee pickers have to pick a 100-pound quota in order to get the minimum wage of less than $3/day. A recent study of plantations in Guatemala showed that over half of all coffee pickers don't receive the minimum wage, in violation of Guatemalan labor laws. Workers interviewed in the study were also subject to forced overtime without compensation, and most often did not receive their legally-mandated employee benefits. The total average income reported was Quetzales 1006 ($127.37/month).

According to 1998 data published by Guatemala's National Institute of Statistics, the cost of the Basic Food Basket for a family of five was 1353.86 Quetzales per month ($171.37 @7.90 exchange rate). The Basket of Goods and Services (including food, education, healthcare, clothing, and transportation) was Q2470.55 ($312.72). Because of this situation, many coffee workers bring their children to help them in the fields in order to pick the daily quota. These child workers are not officially employed and therefore not subject to labor protections. While children in most rural families work at an earlier age than urban children, a February 4 investigative report by ABC-affiliate KGO television in San Francisco revealed children as young as 6 or 8 years old at work in the fields. We believe that the best way to prevent child labor in the fields is to pay workers a living wage. Working conditions on these plantations are harsh; as migrant farmworkers, many workers sleep in temporary shelters with rows of bunk beds. Many times they cook, wash and bathe from the same water source.

The study of coffee plantations in Guatemala revealed that only 13% of coffee workers have completed their primary education. Most were not provided with legally-mandated adequate health care. Most coffee workers, like many agricultural workers around the world, are not guaranteed their basic labor rights including the right to organize. The rural nature of farmwork makes them especially vulnerable to threats and coercion, as plantation owners can take advantage of their control over the workforce to keep them from organizing into unions to demand their rights. Many countries have adequate labor laws such as minimum wage, mandated health and safety requirements, and freedom to form a union, but these rights are usually not enforced. What are some of the environmental issues, like pesticides and biodiversity, with coffee production? the Environment (PDF 106 kb) A: Coffee farming originally developed in Africa as an understory crop beneath diverse shade trees that provided habitat for wildlife such as birds, butterflies, insects, and animals. Traditional farmers usually use sustainable agricultural techniques including composting coffee pulp, rotating crops, and not applying expensive chemicals and fertilizers. In addition, they usually cultivate food alongside cash crops, and intercrop other plants such as banana and nut trees which provide food security as well as additional sources of income.

In the 1970s and 80s, as part of the general shift to 'technified agriculture' during the so-called Green Revolution, the US Agency for International Development and other groups gave $80 million dollars for plantations in Central America to replace traditional shade grown farming techniques with 'sun cultivation' techniques in order to increase yields. This resulted in the destruction of vast forests and biodiversity of over 1.1 million hectares. 'Sun cultivated' coffee involves the cutting down of trees, monocropping, and the input of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This type of industrial coffee farming leads to severe environmental problems, such as pesticide pollution, deforestation and the extinction of songbirds through habitat destruction. The Smithsonian Institute has identified industrial coffee production as one of the major threats to songbirds in the hemisphere due to deforestation - the birds no longer have a habitat in which to live. Soil and water sources continue to be severely degraded by many coffee farms, as coffee pulp is often dumped into streams. In addition to the harmful effects on the environment caused by the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides in coffee cultivation, workers are also at risk of drinking contaminated water and being poisoned by pesticides.

For these reasons, many bird, tree, and biodiversity conservationists have developed standards for promoting "shade-grown" or "bird-friendly" certified coffee -- that is, coffee grown under a canopy of diverse trees that provide habitat to birds. The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, as well as Rainforest Alliance and the Seattle Audubon Society, all promote various labels of coffee that promote tree and bird conserving farming practices. In addition, many consumers are committed to purchasing organic coffee in order to promote sustainable farming techniques in poor countries. For more information, see the Proceedings of the First Sustainable Coffee Congress by the Smithsonian Institute, which is a valuable resource on all issues of sustainability. How does Fair Trade address environmental issues such as shade grown and organic? A: About 85% of Fair Trade Certified coffee is shade grown and either passive or certified organic. Over half of the certified organic coffee is produced by Fair Trade cooperatives, but unless the coffee is Fair Trade Certified, there is no guarantee that the farmer received the benefit. Certified organic coffee in the Fair Trade market receive a $.15 premium per pound. Typically, small farmers have never had the money to finance cutting down of the trees or purchase large amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Small farmers have traditionally passed on sustainable farming techniques to their children. We believe that small farmers are the best stewards of the land, with the highest interest in living in and passing on land with healthy soil free from harmful pesticides to their children. Paying farmers a fair wage with incentives for ecological practices is the best way to encourage sustainable farming. Fair Trade helps guarantee that the benefits of organic farming techniques reach the farmer as well as the consumer and the environment. We support the shade grown/bird-friendly as well as organic labeling movements as an important tool for consumers to make responsible choices about environmental conservation, and support the double- or triple-labeling of coffee. Most consumers who believe in supporting living wages for farmers also support sustainable farming practices that promote environmental conservation. How does the Fair Trade certification process differ from organic and shade grown certifications? A: Organic, Shade Grown, and Bird-Friendly certification labels have contributed important and valuable efforts to promoting sustainable agriculture techniques that benefit farmers and the environment. However, they do not carry the encompassing attributes of the Fair Trade Certification process. Organic coffee is certified according to strict legal criteria.

There are a number of different certifying agencies (QAI, OCIA) that all certify according to the same California Organic Foods Act an in accordance with the standards of the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM). Shade coffee (bird-friendly) is currently certified by several groups (Rainforest Alliance, Seattle Audubon Society, Smithsonian Institute) but they work with slightly different criteria and do not have comprehensive monitoring procedures. Of these, the Smithsonian Institute has the strongest and most scientifically-based criteria and the best monitoring capability. Fair Trade Certification works with a ten year old comprehensive system of monitoring according to international standards. Most (85%) Fair Trade Certified coffee is organic and shade grown, and most Shade and Organic coffee comes from farms that are organized as part of the Fair Trade network. Unfortunately, most organic or shade grown coffee is not Fair Trade; you still have to look for the Fair Trade Certified label to know if the farmer got a fair price. Notably, unlike organic certification, all Fair Trade coffee monitoring and certification costs are paid by the roasters in the consuming countries, not the farmers.

In sum, we believe Fair Trade, Shade/Bird Friendly and Organic labeling initiatives to be symbiotic, because what is good for the workers is good for trees, birds, and our shared environment. Many consumers are looking for coffee that is multiply certified; labor and ecological standards overlap and are mutually beneficial. How did the concept of Fair Trade originate? A: The Fair Trade movement began in the late 1950s as alternative trade organizations (ATOs) emerged in Europe and the US to promote grassroots development through direct, equitable trade. These ATOs bought directly from Third World producers, eliminating the middlemen, and paid the producers a fair price while providing assistance in developing trading experience and market contacts. Such experiences helped producers raise their incomes while reducing their dependency on commercial middlemen. These first ATOs were primarily "Third World shops" which dealt mainly in handicrafts. Today, there are 3,000 of these shops in Europe organized in the Network of European World Shops, and about 100 in the US, organized in the Fair Trade Federation. How was the concept of Fair Trade Certification developed?

A: The first Fair Trade certification initiative, called Max Havelaar, was proposed in Holland in 1988. It marked an important departure from the ATO model. The Fair Trade seal was offered to mainstream coffee roasters who were willing to trade even a fraction of their total volume on Fair Trade terms. By bringing in larger coffee roasters and pushing Fair Trade into mainstream supermarkets, this seal exposed many more consumers to the benefits of Fair Trade coffee and greatly increased the number of farmers who benefit from Fair Trade. After the Fair Trade seal demonstrated itself as a viable marketing concept, several groups from other countries in Europe adopted the initiative, many under the name of Fair Trade USA. However, for most of their history, the Fair Trade labeling organizations remained a collection of independent, autonomous, nationally based initiatives that shared criteria and worked with the same farmers, but pursued common goals with different strategies. There are currently Fair Trade Certification seals in 17 different importing countries. How did the Fairtrade Labeling Organizations international originate? A: In 1997, Fair Trade labelers formed an international umbrella group called Fair Trade Labeling Organizations (FLO) International.

The 17-member organization follows a set criteria which defines Fair Trade for each product certified under the Fair Trade system, including coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, honey, bananas and orange juice. For each commodity, there is a shared International Fair Trade Registry of farmers who have undergone a formal application process and have been approved to sell to the Fair Trade market. Monitoring and certification systems are maintained by FLO, which has field monitors in each producer region or country who annually visit all of the producer coops. Each member of FLO contributes to international monitoring costs with its annual dues. How did Fair Trade coffee in the US get started? A: In 1986, Equal Exchange was established to import Nicaraguan coffee as an expression of solidarity with the people and revolution of Nicaragua, after the Reagan administration imposed an unfair trade embargo. Equal Exchange became the only ATO in the US to focus exclusively on Fair Trade coffee, trading according to the international standards before there was a monitoring agency in the US. In the fourteen years since its inception, Equal Exchange has built a small but important niche for Fair Trade coffee, earning the respect and recognition of the specialty coffee industry and helping many farmers to keep their land during the low ebbs in the world coffee market.

Other companies such as Peace Coffee in Minneapolis, Zapatista Coffee in Denver, Café Mam in Oregon, Café Campesino in Georgia, and Dean's Beans in Massachusetts have also been active promoting fair prices for farmers over the last five years, as well as promoting education about the coffee industry and the need for Fair Trade. How did Fair Trade Certification in the US get started? A: Fair Trade USA is the only FLO-affiliated, non-profit Fair Trade certification organization in the United States. Fair Trade USA was founded in 1996, but due to lack of funding was stagnant until 1998, when it incorporated in Oakland under the leadership of longtime coffee farmer advocate Paul Rice. Initially, the organization focused on certifying coffee importers who were willing to trade according to Fair Trade criteria. In 1999, that focus shifted to roasters. In 1999 they focused most of their energies on Bay Area companies, but many socially responsible roasters across the nation have become licensees, especially after the April 2000 SCAA conference where Fair Trade USA brought producers from a dozen different Fair Trade cooperatives to show their product.

In the fall of 2000 their focus is on Boston and the greater Northeast. As of mid-2000, there were over 50 importers and roasters licensed to sell Fair Trade coffee with the Fair Trade USA label. In addition, Fair Trade USA is active around promotion and consumer education around Fair Trade coffee. See airtradeusa.org for more information. What are the Fairtrade Labeling Organizations (FLO) criteria for roasters and importers? A: Any coffee roaster that complies with the following conditions can apply for the right to use of one of the Fair Trade Labels of FLO-International. The purchasing price must have been fixed in accordance with the conditions established for this effect by FLO-International: Guaranteed floor price of $1.26 per pound for washed arabica. For Arabicas the New York "C" market shall be the basis of calculation. The price shall be established in US$-cents per pound, plus or minus the prevailing differential for the relevant quality, basis F.O.B. origin, net shipped weight. Over the established prices, there shall be a fixed premium of 5 US$-cents per pound.

For certified organic or biological coffee with officially recognized certification, that will be sold as such, an additional premium of 15 US$-cents per pound green coffee will be due, on top of the FLO-International price. The roaster/buyer is obliged to facilitate the coffee producers access to credit-facilities at the beginning of the harvest season, up to 60% of the value of the contracted coffee at Fair Trade conditions, at regular international interest rates. The credit will be cancelled upon shipment of the coffee. Producers and roasters/buyers depend on reliability and continuity. For that reason, relations between both should be based on long term contracts (1 to 10 years). The floor price of the Fair Trade criteria acts as a safety net, protecting small farmers when fluctuating market prices fall extremely low. Currently, the floor price for conventionally grown Arabica beans is $1.26/pound and $1.41/pound if the coffee is certified organic. When the market price is above the floor price, as it was during the 1994-98 period, the Fair Trade price is an additional $0.05/pound premium above normal market price.

Therefore, the Fair Trade floor price is most relevant in times like the present, when the world market price hovers around $0.85/pound (meaning that most small farmers are only getting $0.20-0.40/pound). The Fair Trade floor prices were determined after considerable field research into production and living costs in various coffee-growing countries. Negotiation in 1988 between European Fair Trade leaders, farmer representatives and the industry established the initial floor prices. The Fair Trade criteria around credit are especially important for small farmers. Without access to credit during the "lean months" between harvests, small farmers often are forced to sell the future rights to their harvests to local middlemen at extremely low prices in exchange for some cash up front. At harvest time, the farmers are not allowed to pay off the middlemen with cash - they must hand over the coffee. So without access to credit, many farmers would not be able to take advantage of the opportunity to sell at Fair Trade prices. This is why credit is built into the Fair Trade criteria as an obligation of the importer. What are the Fairtrade Labeling Organizations criteria for producers?

A: FLO maintains a Coffee Producers Registry that is open to associations of small farmers who meet several criteria that can be summed up in the following way. They have to be poor; only small farmers who are not dependent on hired labor, not plantations, are represented. And they have to be democratically organized as small farmer associations that are independent and transparent. Representatives from FLO annually inspect Fair Trade farms in producing countries. The exact FLO criteria for Producers are the following: the majority of the members of the organization are small scale producers of coffee. By small producers are understood those that are not structurally dependent on hired labor, managing their farm mainly with their own and their family's labor-force; the organization is independent and democratically controlled by its members.

This means that the members of the organizations participate in the decision-making process which determines the general strategy of their organization, including decisions related to the destiny of the additional resources which result from operations in the framework of this agreement; administrative transparency and effective control by the members and its Board over the management is secured, minimizing the risk of fraud and offering members the necessary instruments to be able to act adequately in case of fraud; the philosophy motivating the organization is based on the concept and practice of solidarity; no form of political, racial, religious or sexual discrimination is practiced; the organization is statutarily open to new members; the organization is politically independent, and there are sufficient guarantees that the organization will not become the instrument of any political party or interest; the organization shares with the FLO-International and with the other organizations inscribed in the Producers' Register the following principles and general objectives: integral economic development, concentrating on improvement of production techniques and diversification of the production, in order to diminish dependency on one single product as a cash crop; integral organizational development, improving the managerial and administrative capacity of the actual and future leadership of the organization and ensuring full participation of the members in the definition of strategies and the use of extra income resulting from fair trade; integral social development, for

 instance through health care and educational programs, improvement of housing and water supply, thus creating better living conditions for the members and their families and the communities they live in; sustainable development strategies, applying production techniques which respect the specific ecosystems and contribute to the conservation and a sustainable use of natural resources, in order to avoid as much as possible - or even totally - the use of chemical inputs; integral human participation, offering especially women the opportunity to play a more active role in the development process and in the decision making process and management of the organization; improvement of the quality of the products as a strategic requirement for the small producers to defend themselves on both the Fair Trade Market and the regular market.

Logically, it is necessary that the quality of the coffee offered for exportation complies with the minimum quality standards as required by the different markets, and the organization must count with the management capacity to effectively export the coffee and act as a reliable commercial partner. There are no criteria made for farm practices that the Fair Trade farmers must follow, even though Fair Trade standards explicitly support the development of organic agriculture and environmental protection. At the Fair Trade Producers' Assembly in June 1997, the producer groups themselves proposed a set of environmental standards. These standards included the use of leguminous trees, cultivation of timber species on the coffee farm, and windbreaks. These producer-derived indicators emphasize the awareness of "shade" as a beneficial farm practice, decreasing the likelihood that farmers will transfer to "sun" grown coffee as they increase their profits. How does the certification process work? A: As a member of the international Fair Trade network, Fair Trade USA is responsible for monitoring the paper trail from crop to cup to ensure Fair Trade practices were followed throughout. Producers FLO maintains a Coffee Producers Registry that is open to associations of small farmers as detailed above.

FLO maintains field monitors in countries and regions of origin, and makes annual visits to ensure producer compliance with the Fair Trade criteria. The majority of cooperatives fulfill or surpass the requirements of FLO's criteria wholeheartedly. If producer cooperatives are found not in compliance, they can be put on probation for a period to allow for improvement, and in rare cases, dismissed from the list for serious violations. Importers and Roasters In the U.S., coffee importers and roasters must sign a licensing agreement with Fair Trade USA in order to sell Fair Trade Certified coffee using Fair Trade USA's trademarked seal on their products. Fair Trade USA's Monitoring Department handles the US side of the coffee trail by monitoring licensee paperwork, including sales receipts and tracking numbers. Roasters must pay a licensing fee of 10 cents per pound to Fair Trade USA to ensure the sustainability of the system, and to ensure that costs for certification are born in the North rather than by the farmers. Does the Fair Trade system work with large plantations? A: Fair Trade is fundamentally focused on the small farmer, the producer of the great majority of the world's coffee. Therefore, it cannot address all of the social inequities associated with coffee production around the world.

As noted earlier, by deliberately excluding plantations from the Fair Trade coffee market, the movement does little to improve the lot of landless farmworkers employed on those estates. In contrast, in the case of tea and bananas, two largely plantation-grown crops, Fair Traders have developed criteria that address wages, living and working conditions of farmworkers, the right to organize, and even mechanisms for profit-sharing. Fair Trade inspectors report that monitoring and verification of fulfillment of these criteria for large estates are more challenging tasks than with small farmer cooperatives. Nevertheless, Fair Trade labelers made a political decision to engage the large-estate sector in the case of these two commodities. However, there has been contention involving bringing plantation grown coffee into the scene, because of the importance of the issue of land reform. The Fair Trade coffee market is still too small to support both small farmers and plantations. Presently, less than half the total production volume of the small farmers on the International Fair Trade Register is sold at Fair Trade terms because worldwide demand is still too small to absorb it all. Bringing plantation grown coffee into the Fair Trade market would further dilute the position of the small holders.

Therefore, any discussion of opening Fair Trade markets to estate owners (and farmworkers) should be postponed until the market grows large enough to absorb them without undermining the position of the small farmer cooperatives. Is there a Code of Conduct for the treatment of workers on large plantations? A: In lieu of developing Fair Trade criteria for plantation grown coffee, some Fair Trade leaders in Europe are promoting the development of a Code of Conduct to address the industry's sourcing practices and, in particular, the issues of wages and working conditions on large coffee estates. In July 1999, the European Fair Trade Association issued an open invitation to consumer and religious organizations across Europe to join them in a campaign to pressure the European Coffee Federation to implement a Code of Conduct or "Guidelines for Ethical Trading". A television documentary exploring the deplorable conditions on Guatemalan coffee estates sparked a massive response to this invitation. The European Coffee Federation, representing the large European roasters and importers, responded by discussing the subject of responsible business in their 1999 annual meeting. Global Exchange has agreed to be the US partner in this international effort, and is looking for other labor advocates interested in participating in this effort.

So far, the only effort in this direction in the U.S. has been Starbucks' 1995 Framework for action for sourcing coffee in Guatemala, which it only half-heartedly implemented after consumer pressure (coordinated by the US/Guatemala Labor Exchange, now US/LEAP) was applied. Global Exchange is maintaining pressure on Starbucks, demanding that they implement their Framework for Action plan. The rest of the U.S. coffee industry has yet to seriously look at Sourcing Guidelines or a Code of Conduct that effectively addresses the issues of wages, working conditions and organizing rights on plantations. Why did Global Exchange decide to start a Fair Trade coffee campaign? A: Because coffee is so widely traded and consumed, it has an immense impact on the economic well-being of people in poor countries. For the same reason, it also offers one of the most promising avenues for bringing about positive change. Global Exchange believes that as we criticize free trade and corporate globalization for its lack of democracy and exploitation of poor people around the world, we need to promote our own vision of a just global trade system based on economic justice.

In our work against sweatshops, we have struggled for years with the need for a comprehensive system of monitoring of wages and factory conditions that doesn't yet exist for garments as it does for coffee. With the inception of Fair Trade USA, Fair Trade Coffee certification became the first commodity where an independent monitoring system could track and verify that Fair Trade criteria had been met. We have been involved for ten years in promoting Fair Trade through our craft stores in San Francisco and Berkeley. Recognizing an alternative to free trade in Fair Trade Certified coffee, Global Exchange initiated a campaign in the summer of 1999. What is the history of the Fair Trade coffee movement? A: Global Exchange began spearheading a campaign to promote Fair Trade coffee in the summer of 1999. During the summer we focused our campaign on our local Bay Area. We organized a coalition of interested human rights, environmental, church, social justice, and student organizations that believed in the model of Fair Trade and wanted to help promote living wages for farmers. We outreached to the local press and generated stories about Fair Trade in the Oakland Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Examiner, and San Jose Mercury News about Fair Trade coffee.

We helped to host Santiago Rivera, a farmer from San Francisco's Sister City of Estelí, Nicaragua, for an event with San Francisco Supervisor and living wage advocate Tom Ammiano. We worked with San Francisco, Berkeley , and Oakland city councils to be the first governments in the country to offer Fair Trade Certified purchasing restrictions . We increased the retail outlets that offer Fair Trade Certified coffee from just 4 to over 100 in just a few months! Our volunteers set up informational tables at many local events, hosted speakers on Fair Trade coffee at local schools and churches, and brought awareness to the need to purchase Fair Trade to a critical mass of people in the Bay Area. In the fall of 1999 we began sowing the seeds for our nationwide campaign focusing on helping community activists and college students coordinate Fair Trade coffee campaigns on their campuses. We had a network of over 50 communities, predominantly colleges, that are organizing educational outreach and campaigning to promote Fair Trade coffee and purchasing restrictions locally.

Students at schools including Ohio University, Portland State, University of Chicago, Tulane, and Columbia are working to get sweatshop coffee off their campuses and replace it with Fair Trade Certified coffee, and students at UC Davis, College of the Atlantic, and SUNY Binghamton have already been successful. United Students Against Sweatshops, the Student Alliance to Reform Corporations, and student environmental organizations have participated in Fair Trade Certified coffee activities on their campuses, identifying it as an important tool towards decorporatizing our universities and greening our campuses. In addition, we worked with churches, environmental groups, unions, and other social justice communities to promote Fair Trade for farmers. We have an Action Kit full of tools to get started! What is the history of the Starbucks campaign? A: In the spring of 2000 we turned our sights towards Starbucks with the plan of pressuring them to offer their customers the choice to buy Fair Trade coffee at all of their stores across the country. Starbucks is the largest retailer of specialty coffee, owning a fifth of all cafes nationwide. In November, 1999, Global Exchange approached then Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and requested that Starbucks buy Fair Trade Certified coffee.

We then organized several peaceful demonstrations promoting Fair Trade in front of Starbucks in Seattle that same month. Starbucks was initially very hesitant, alleging low bean quality and insufficient consumer demand. We then initiated a massive letter writing campaign involving citizens across the nation, writing as consumers of Starbucks demanding they carry Fair Trade coffee. In February, 2000, an investigative report by ABC-affiliate KGO in San Francisco exposed child labor and incredibly low wages in plantations in Guatemala, some of which sell coffee to Starbucks. On February 4th we organized a local protest as a result. On February 14th we petitioned stockholders at their Annual General Meeting in Seattle to respond to consumer demand and fairness and offer Fair Trade Certified coffee. In a meeting we had that day with Starbucks officials, they stated that they would not yet commit to doing so. That week, Starbucks announced a one-time shipment of 75,000 pounds of Fair Trade coffee as a sign that they were aware of the demand. We responded that for a company the size of Starbucks, this represented a "Drop in the Cup," an average of about 30 pounds per store - and that the coffee was not certified!

We quickly dismissed this move in the media as an obvious public relations ploy, because this tiny token amount is only enough for about 30 pounds per store! We then circulated an Open Letter, signed by 84 student, environmental, church, and social justice organizations, asking Starbucks to pay farmers a living wage and offer them the choice to buy Fair Trade Certified coffee. We helped organize 30 demonstrations to be held on April 13 across the country at Starbucks shops, with a large base of activists committed to helping farmers earn a living wage. Over 500 concerned people faxed in letters to Starbucks from our website, and hundreds more sent in postcards asking the giant retailer to offer Fair Trade coffee. Three days before the launch of our campaign on April 13, Starbucks capitulated to our demands and announced an agreement with Fair Trade USA to begin offering Fair Trade Certified coffee at all of its stores nationwide with a launch date of October 4. They will also be developing educational materials including posters, brochures, packaging, and training for coffee bar workers, so millions of customers will have the chance to learn about the benefits of Fair Trade.

This is a huge victory for farmers whose incomes will triple, as hundreds more farmers will be able to sell their coffee at Fair Trade prices. It is also an importance victory for the corporate accountability movement. Starbucks' quick capitulation in the face of nationwide protests illustrates that grassroots organizing and education can indeed bring about major results. Starbucks has agreed to offer the coffee in whole bean form only, and we will be pressuring them to offer it in brewed coffees and espresso drinks this fall when the beans are on the shelves. What is your relationship with the Specialty Coffee Association of America? A: From April 14-18, 2000, we attended the Specialty Coffee Association of America, titled "Quality, Sustainability, and Social Responsibility." Fair Trade and discussions of fairness and sustainability played a major role in the conference, held in San Francisco. After the conference, we have been working with the SCAA to develop a workplan for their newly created Fair Trade Working Group.

We have identified key areas in which the trade association, in an historic move, can help to play a leadership role in promoting Fair Trade amongst its members, including officially endorsing Fair Trade Certification, educating its members through trade publications, assisting in research needs, and helping to channel funding resources for product quality improvement to Fair Trade cooperatives. Is there enough consumer demand for Fair Trade coffee? A: According to the 1998 Cone/Roper benchmark study, 78% percent of consumers would rather purchase a product associated with a cause about which they believe. 54% say that they would pay more for a product that supports their cause. Fair Trade USA's 1997 consumer study revealed that 49% of specialty coffee drinkers surveyed said they would buy Fair Trade coffee. In the post-WTO climate, more and more people are demanding Fair Trade products. Most people in this country would rather buy a cup of coffee picked under fair trade conditions than sweatshop labor conditions. Be sure to check out our Action Kit which is full of ideas and resources. What can any community organization do to support Fair Trade? A: Help start a campaign in your community that will highlight the importance of paying farmers a living wage.

Distribute educational leaflets and local events and local cafés, particularly ones that might be interested in offering Fair Trade coffee. Send a letter to local roasters and cafés from your organizational letterhead asking them to talk with Fair Trade USA about offering Fair Trade coffee. Make sure that your local community serves Fair Trade Certified coffee at community events. Encourage your community organization to purchase Fair Trade products for fundraisers and organizational gifts. Check out our Action Pack for more ideas. What role can campus activists play? A: Fair Trade provides a sustainable alternative to corporate free trade practices. Bringing Fair Trade Certified coffee to our campuses to replace corporate coffee is an important step towards replacing environmentally & socially exploitative product sourcing with sustainable development practices and decorporatizing our universities. It is a visible and achievable goal that can be incorporated into current campaigns, used to recruit new activists, and network labor, environmental, social justice, and other organizations, not to mention Asian, African, and Latin American Studies, along with International Relations, Labor Departments, Women's Studies, Environmental Studies, students, staff, and faculty, etc. Fair Trade practices are environmentally sustainable, fair, and independently monitored - all of which are essential components of a green campus and a democratic global economy.

Campus activists have been key players in the anti-sweatshop movement. Now we have a chance to promote purchasing restrictions on our campuses for Fair Trade Certified coffee. Check out our Action Pack for tools and resources. What can teachers, professors, and graduate students do? A: Invite a guest speaker to your classroom to talk about Fair Trade. Order a copy of the video Santiago's Story and show it to your students. Have them discuss Fair Trade, what it means and what they can do to support it. Follow up with concrete actions (delivering postcards and petitions to a local Starbucks for example, or organizing a public education presentation on Fair Trade for the community). Discuss with the students what it means to take concrete action in promoting fairness in the global economy. Check out our Action Pack for more ideas. There is also a serious need for expanded research around Fair Trade issues, such as the improvement in farmers' lives, working conditions on coffee plantations, consumer research, and movement strategies. If you are interested in researching themes of use to the Fair Trade movement, contact fairtrade@globalexchange.org . What role can labor unions play?

A: Labor unions have been at the forefront of the movement for Fair Trade in the global economy, and have played an important role in the Fair Trade movement in Europe and Canada. Make sure that your local workplace serves Fair Trade Certified coffee. Make it a demand of a union contract that the worksite sells on Fair Trade Certified coffee, for example at a hotel. Make the connections between farmworker issues at home and abroad. Check out our Action Pack for more ideas. What role can religious groups play? A: Religious organizations have a long history of supporting social justice and promoting positive solutions to global injustice. Send a letter to local cafes and grocery stores asking them to sell Fair Trade coffee. Have an event at your social hour or religious education classes to show the video, Santiago's Story, discuss Fair Trade, and write letters to your local stores. Make sure that your local place of worship serves Fair Trade Certified coffee at coffee hour or other events. Encourage your church to purchase Fair Trade coffee as a fundraiser - check out the Fair Trade Certified vendor list. Check out our Action Kit for more ideas. Also, see this article from The Catholic Voice. What can regular consumers do to support Fair Trade?

A: Consumers can play a powerful role in demanding that coffee companies offer us the choice to buy Fair Trade Certified coffee. We can demand that they take responsibility for the working conditions of the people who produce the product that makes their business successful. Buy Fair Trade Certified coffee. Ask for Fair Trade Certified coffee where you shop. Drop a note in the suggestion box at your local grocery store or café. Get involved in the Fair Trade movement -- contact us for information on how you can help build Fair Trade in your community! Check out Ten Things You Can Do for Fair Trade for more suggestions.

Question: Brazil is the world's biggest coffee producer. What is the second biggest?
Answer: Vietnam