By: jim cleaves

jim cleaves — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 14:10:59 +0000

Within the limited context of Fair Trade, both International and USA, it’s good news that at least FT Intl has raised their minimum prices.
Over 45+ years in the coffee business I have worked with all of the major certifying entities. I am not an advocate of Fair Trade in general because I believe it over-emphasizes the economic aspects of sustainability, while not adequately addressing environmental and social issues.
One of the companies where I was employed for many years was largely responsible for the introduction of Brazilian FT coffee. We always wanted to work directly with FLO, FT’s certifying arm, but this proved impossible. I was always struck by FLO’s hostile attitude towards my company. After promising for several years to meet with us to resolve FT Brazil supply issues, they finally reneged and told us that they never meet with buyers for fear they would be unduly influenced.
It always seemed counter-productive to me that FLO would not want to meet with a company that had advanced their interests through the creation of a major new supply stream of FT coffee.

By: andy carlton

andy carlton — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 12:42:47 +0000

Great analysis. I particularly like the Big Mac index. In 2020 I did a 40-year price graph for arabica coffee using the standard inflation factor of the US dollar and discovered that to get purchasing price parity with 1980, arabica should have been selling at $4.63/lb, while the actual price at the time was only $1.10/lb. The 40-year price graph, with peaks and troughs in all the same places, slopes gradually downwards in value, showing that even when the price was the same most of the value was gone.

Comments on: Column: On Fair Coffee Prices and Big Macs

By: jim cleaves

By: andy carlton