Prices on Green Coffee 2

Klaus has just returned from his trip to Guatemala and Panama. He has a lot of experiences that he is trying to write down and will post shortly!

Meanwhile we have learned that the Fair Trade price has the flexibility incorporated that when market prices rise above the 'Minimum' FT-price the market price is the price that should be paid to the exporting cooperative. Check this link out to see a graphical illustration of this.

We are very glad to know that FT has this flexibility and therefore even better can be seen as a reasonable 'minimum wage'!

On top of the FT-price 10 cents/lb is paid to the producing coop for develoment projects. Therefore a higher price is still paid for the FT-coffee even when the market goes high and though the premium is given to the coop not the producer.

One of the problems that Klaus heard about in Guatemala was that selling to the ordinary market gives imidiate payment wheras selling through the Fair Trade system often delays payment. Another consideration is that when the farmer is choosing whether to get the market price through selling to the ordinary market or getting the same price through the Fair Trade market, the conditions put up by FT are demanding more work than 'just selling' to the ordinary market. However good these conditions are meant they economically will be seen as increased 'production costs' that demands extra benefits to be worthwhile. Togehter these things might make the ordinary market look more attractive in the short run. In Guatemala therefore it is feared that a lot of farmers will not fulfill their FT-contracts.

Easter

Should you be out for Easter Coffee we will have open on Saturday 22nd, but otherwise closed from Thursday 20th and back to normal opening hours from Tuesday 25th.

Have a great Easter!!

New Barista Champion of Finland

On the 13th of March Mikko Haahti won the finish Barista Championship and the Latte art competition at the same time!!

Lots of congratulations from here!!!

You can see more about Mikkos championship here (in finish but with pictures:)

We proudly delivered green beans to Mikkos Brother, Juhani Haahti (finish barista Champion 2006 and number 2 in this years finish Latte Art comp.), who roasted a blend of Daterra Sweet Collection and Natrual Adado, Yirgacheffe for the espresso that Mikko used!

We are looking very much forward to having all these World Class Baristas coming to Copenhagen for the World Barista Championship in June!

Prices on Green Coffee

Since more than a month now the market prices on bulk-coffee has been above the Fair Trade price! (check these links: http://www.ico.org/prices/pr.htm http://www.fairtrade.net/fileadmin/user_upload/content/12_12_07_FLO_Standards_announcement_-_Anuncio_de_la__Unidad_de_Criterios_de_FLO.pdf)

We are supporting the basic idea behind Fair Trade - to give the farmer a "minimum wage" - but these facts does also show some of the rigidity such a large system has!

What will be the consequences of the higher market price versus FT-price? It might just be a temporary situation caused by market speculation. But questions pops up like will the FairTrade farmers sell at better prices to the ordinary market and thereby creating FT-supply deficiencies? Will the big roasters be forced to pay prices better than FT for all their coffee and not just for a symbolic amount of Fair Trade Coffee for marketing (in the long run I doubt it considering the underlying power relations)?

Our Direct Trade prices are based on quality and are therefore all above both the Fair Trade price and the currently high bulk-market prices.