Poor Farmer

By Zach Dyer in Drink Drank Drunk, Java Enabled August 26, 2009 Like Champagne and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe coffee takes its name from the region where it's grown. Sweet, fruity and well-balanced Yirgacheffe has become a household name among coffee aficionados. Now, due to changes in how Ethiopia regulates its coffee market, Yirgacheffe has grown much bigger. Ethiopia trademarked the Yirgacheffe name in 2006 in an attempt to capitalize on the region's reputation. Then, in December 2008, the Ethiopian government mandated that all coffee be sold through a national coffee board, known as the Ethiopian Coffee Exchange (EXC). While the mechanics of all these political and business maneuvers might sound obtuse to the average coffee drinker, they could have a serious impact on whether your coffee truly originates where it claims to originate. Why bother with a national exchange in the first place? The global coffee industry is plagued by unscrupu...

Photo: Courtesy of Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News The Associated Press August 17, 2009 WASHINGTON - Starbucks Corp. spent $130,000 in the second quarter to lobby on import tariffs, food labeling and other issues, according to a recent disclosure report. The ubiquitous gourmet coffee chain also lobbied the federal government on legislation related to trade, taxes on foreign income, health reform, employee retirement, union organization measures and environmental matters. In the April-June period, the Seattle-based merchant lobbied Congress, the Commerce Department, State Department and the U.S. Trade Representative, according to the report filed July 17 with the House clerk's office. Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

SCAA co-hosts first-ever Specialty coffee & tea convention for the Middle East International Conference and Exhibition Set for Dubai, the Gateway to the Middle East’s Coffee and Tea Industry Press Release August 12, 2009 The first-ever Specialty Coffee & Tea Convention for the Middle East takes place Nov. 10 – 12, 2009 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The conference is co-organized by the Specialty Coffee Association of America, the world’s largest coffee trade association, and International Conferences & Exhibitions LLC, one of the Middle East’s pioneering and well respected convention management firms. The Specialty Coffee & Tea Convention is expected to draw the largest gathering of coffee and tea traders from the Middle East and other international markets. The program features in-depth educational lectures and workshops, a focused coffee and tea exhibition, and a wide range of opportunities for networking, business sourcing and market intelligence. The three-d...

A worker selects arabica coffee beans at Conquista farm in Alfenas in Brazil, July 7, 2008. Courtesy: REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker By Sharon Lindores Reuters August 13, 2009 LONDON (Reuters) - Total global coffee output in 2009/10 is forecast to stand at around 127 million bags, against 127.288 million in 2008/09, the International Coffee Organization (ICO) said in its latest monthly report on Thursday. "There has been good export performance by Brazil, and Vietnam, while Colombian availability has continued to be below average due to weather conditions," the report said. "Some reduction in exports has also been observed from Africa and Central America." The arabica crop for 2009/10 in Brazil is 70 percent harvested and is expected to produce 39.1 million bags, down from 35.5 million bags in the previous year. This is due to the biennial cycle. The estimated production of robustas in Brazil for 2009/10 rose to 10.8 million bags from 10.5 million bags in the previous year,...

Part I Part II Is ECX Good for Coffee Growers? The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) was established with an ambitious goal of eliminating food shortages and hunger in Ethiopia by creating an efficient marketing system for agricultural commodities. Barely two months after its launch, the highly praised exchange platform found itself caught in the midst of the complex global coffee trade, an undertaking that is entirely different and farther from its original vision of "revolutionizing" the inefficient domestic commodity market. In August 2008, the government enacted a new law that forces the trading of all of the country's coffees through ECX and ECX welcomed the decision. Since then, the government confiscated stocks of coffee from exporters and revoked licenses, filled in the vacuum with the Ethiopian Grain Trade Enterprise (EGTE), and sold Specialty coffees at commodity grade coffee prices. Following its first rough encounter, ECX is now engaged in talks with Spec...

For Part I , click here For Part III , click here The Effects of ECX on Specialty Coffee Exporters and Buyers I think, the first year of trading coffee through ECX was marred by problems and confusion. While the efforts made by ECX to take on a crop of global importance shortly after its launch is admirable, the strategies it went by to integrate the trade were far from being flawless. From the outset, ECX declared that it aims at creating a national standard commodity coffee classification system; it eliminated direct trade and traceability; and enticed the government to controlling the value chain from farm gate to the border. These changes have had remarkable effects on coffee exporters, buyers, growers, and the coffee sector at large. I. Homogeneous National Coffee Brand For a country with millions of poor people, the temptation of utilizing the high paying fewer coffee brands to drive sales and increase the value of the country's overall coffee production is high. That ve...

Wide Angle Profiles One Woman’s Mission to End Hunger in Her Famine-Plagued Country Through Ethiopia’s First Commodities Exchange, July 22 on PBS Anchor Aaron Brown Reports from East Africa to Document the Efforts of Ethiopian Economist Eleni Gabre-Madhin in the Market Maker ------- For my assessment of the ECX and readers' comments, click HERE  - Wondwossen ------- BUSINESS WIRE July 14, 2009 NEW YORK--Twenty-five years after Ethiopia’s famine captured the attention of the world, one startling fact prevails: while nearly one million people starved to death mainly in the north of the country, the south had a food surplus. The problem, says former World Bank economist Eleni Gabre-Madhin, is that the country lacked the economic mechanism to smoothly move commodities from one part of the country to another. Gabre-Madhin, a Cornell undergraduate at the time, saw clearly that the devastating famine was not a result of a lack of food but lack of food distribution. Haunted by the skelet...