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Roasted Coffee Industry Buying Coffee Directly
By John Cranby
The original fair trade movement centered on the roasted coffee
industry, and effectively removed middlemen from the growing and
selling process.
These intermediaries weren’t the only reason why farmers were
frequently paid less-than-subsistence prices for their coffee
crops, but if middlemen were deleted from the equation and farmers
were dealt with directly, then the cost savings could go back
to the growers. If coffee was certified fair trade, it meant the
farmers had a better living.
Return Of The Coffee Middlemen Increases Costs
But the coffee middlemen may be reappearing in a new guise on
the internet. Even something as innocuous as a coffee of the month
club adds one extra layer of costs between the grower and consumer.
The Shot Coffee Ratings blog (http://theshot.coffeeratings.com/2010/03/retail-roasted-coffee-aggregators/),
writing in March of 2010 about "The Return of the Coffee
Middlemen," points out that any extra layer in the roasted
coffee industry involves more paychecks and overhead, and someone
always pays eventually.
Potential For Reintroduction Of Coffee Middlemen
The company selling specialty coffees to consumers usually absorbs
extra costs at first, but when the novelty wears off, they seek
savings to maximize profits. This "indirect trade" virtually
always lowers payments to farmers.
The entry of larger corporations like Walmart or Starbucks into
the fair trade roasted coffee industry also has the potential
to reintroduce coffee middlemen and undo fair trade. It’s expensive
and time-consuming for a corporation to visit individual farmers
or their cooperatives to buy coffee beans and pay good prices.
It’s easier to introduce an intermediary who lumps the cooperatives
all together and makes a collective deal. But this adds new costs,
so these for-profit corporations must find savings somewhere,
and that almost inevitably comes from the farmers. And thus the
old pattern re-emerges.
Fair Trade Means Direct Trade With Farmers And Growers
In many cases, "fair trade" has now given way to "direct
trade" in the roasted coffee industry, as buyers review their
options and return to a more direct involvement with the growers
and farmers’ cooperatives. It may seem like a reinvention
of the fair trade coffee wheel, yet in some cases it seems necessary.
Whenever middlemen pop up again in any form in this industry,
it’s virtually always the original growers whose livelihoods suffer.
And that’s something these buyers are determined to prevent.
About The Author:
John Cranby is a popular author on coffee, chocolate, candy making, cakes and cooking including
Coffee Houses,
Herbal Teas,
Make Chocolate Truffles,
Candy Making,
Candy Molds,
Cake Decorating Supplies,
Books For Cooks,
Anniversary Gift Baskets,
Peanuts,
Salt Water Taffy.
Keep a lookout for more of his articles on this site.
Did You Know?
How much do you know about fair trade coffee? Did you know it
is a great way to get into the stock market and is one of the
more reliable commodities to share on the stock exchange? Many
people do not know this.
They think the stock market is just for companies but small traders
can make money just as well as large technology firms. You can
make money as well as long as you know what you are doing. To
get the right information you are going to have to do some reading.
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