Poor Farmer

Oxfam Press Release - 16 November 2006 More than 70,000 sign Oxfam petition calling on Starbucks to sign licensing agreement to recognise Ethiopia’s ownership rights to coffee names As of today over 70,000 people have taken Oxfam’s online action urging coffee giant Starbucks to review its position in relation to Ethiopia’s attempts to claim ownership of the country’s most famous coffee names. The public has mobilised impressively since Oxfam revealed the obstacles faced by Ethiopia to gain more value from its high quality coffee beans. Ethiopia, an extremely poor country that produces some of the best coffee in the world, is trying to gain greater leverage in a supply chain that is weighed down by injustice and inequity and biased against producers. Control of its coffee names through trademarking would give Ethiopia a fairer share of the profits of the global coffee trade. “It’s amazing to see how many people have been moved to take action,” said Seth Petchers, Oxfam International’s M...

Each year, coffee companies rake in profit by the billions. Last year alone, Starbucks earned $5.8 billion in net revenues. Yet, for every cup of coffee Starbucks sells ($1.80 for a venti), poor farmers in coffee-growing countries like Ethiopia make about three cents. Call on Starbucks to give farmers their fair share of coffee profits. Cheap overseas labor and production is nothing new for large corporations. But Starbucks claims to be different. Their website states: "Starbucks strongly believes in the importance of building mutually-beneficial relationships with coffee farmers and coffee communities with which we work." In reality, Starbucks rakes in premium profits that Ethiopian brand names command, while the farmers providing their supply have been left behind in poverty. With as many as 15 million Ethiopians dependent on coffee revenues, the Ethiopian government has asked Starbucks to sign a licensing agreement that will give Ethiopia trademark control over the names o...

www.ethiomedia.com By Wondwossen Mezlekia, Seattle Novemeber 13, 2006 Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, and Starbucks, the world’s Specialty coffee giant, dominated headlines of the major media outlets in an uncanny coming together. The controversy over Ethiopia’s trademark application for its finest coffees was brought to the public’s attention by Oxfam, a non-profit, anti-poverty organization after several months of unsuccessful attempts to convince Starbucks to lift its block on Ethiopia’s application to own its coffee names. Starbucks swears its hands are not behind the bump on the trademark process but refused to talk about it despite repeated calls by Ethiopia and Oxfam. It took a good deal of pressure from consumers responding to calls by Oxfam to bring Starbucks to the table, and even when it did so, it came with strings and excuses that lead to nowhere. The Ethiopian Fine Coffee Trademark Licensing Initiative, a project funded in part by the UK’s Department for International...

Information on this page may change without a notice --------------- -- Coffee is one of the most valuable products in world trade, in many years second in value only to oil as a source of foreign exchange to developing countries. -- A mature coffee tree will produce 1 to 11/2 pounds of coffee per growing season. It takes 2,000 hand-picked Arabica coffee cherries to make a roasted pound of coffee -- or approximately 4,000 beans. -- Brazil produces about one-third of the coffee in the world, twice as much as Colombia and Vietnam, which vie for second position. Indonesia, Mexico, India, Guatemala and Ethiopia are also major producers. -- In 2000, the United States imported 21-million bags (132 pounds each) of coffee. The largest suppliers were Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Vietnam and Guatemala. The total value was $1.7-billion. -- 52 percent of the adult population of the United States over 18 years of age drinks coffee every day. -- Americans drink some 300-million cups of coffee a day, co...