Highlight in this excerpt: Three exchanges (SAFEX, ECX, and MACE) remain operational but only SAFEX is clearly sustainable and thriving based on the voluntary participation of all relevant market participants, and without significant external donor funding to sustain its operations. While it is sometimes argued that the ECX has promoted the welfare of coffee farmers as the value of exports has increased from $529 million in 2007 when the exchange was established to $797 million in 2012, others indicate that this rise can be almost totally explained by the increase in international coffee prices over this period. Moreover, recent analysis of ECX data indicate that the farmers’ share of the international coffee prices has not risen compared to pre-ECX farmer shares. [footnote 14: For example, data from the International Coffee Organization indicates that farmers took home 51.6% of the export price of their ...