Poor Farmer

By Emily Flitter Reuters July 2, 2012 NEW YORK, July 2 (Reuters) - A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the accounting practices of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is casting a spotlight on M. Block & Sons, a little-known consumer products distributor. The 18-month Green Mountain probe marks the third time in a dozen years that securities regulators have looked at the accounting practices of a company that used Chicago-based M. Block to store and help deliver its products to major retailers. One of the previous investigations led the SEC to charge former Sunbeam Corp Chairman Albert Dunlap with overseeing a massive accounting fraud. The other case involved mobile technology accessories maker iGo Corp, whose executives were charged with inappropriately using M. Block's services to record revenues ahead of schedule. Neither M. Block nor any of its employees has been charged with wrongdoing as a result of the three investigations. B...

Anticipated Record Crop From Brazil and Faltering Consumption Pressure Prices By Carolyn Cui The Wall Street Journal July 1, 2012 In the midst of global economic uncertainty, commodities fell broadly in the second quarter on concerns over weak demand. Among them, coffee took a hard hit, with prices off 6.8%, a move that has jolted a commodity long considered recession proof. Coffee has been under pressure on all fronts for months. Prices have been falling all year in anticipation of a record crop from Brazil, the world's biggest coffee grower. Moreover, demand has been sluggish, as roasters held off on buying premium beans, and consumers in some markets reduced coffee drinking. During the second quarter, coffee prices fell 12.35 cents, to $1.701 a pound, on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange. Prices rebounded slightly toward the end of June but still are 44% off from a peak of $3.049 hit in May 2011. Year to date, coffee is down 25%. "Coffee was really h...

By Isis Almeida Bloomberg News June 28, 2012 Arabica coffee prices will be higher in nine months to a year because of low stockpiles, spurring investors who are expecting lower prices to reverse those bets, according to INTL FCStone Ltd. Hedge funds and other money managers were net short, or betting on lower prices, by 12,105 futures and options as of June 19, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Arabica coffee prices have dropped 28 percent this year because of record production in Brazil, the world’s largest grower. Stockpiles by Sept. 30 will be 24.1 million bags, the lowest since Sept. 30. 2001, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. “It looks to us at this point that the short position will be covered,” Stephen Pollard, a senior vice president at INTL FCStone (Europe) Ltd., said at a conference in Geneva today. “We are really struggling to see where the sales are going to come from, who is going to sell to the funds when they start buying.” I...

The Associated Press via CBS News June 25, 2012 HONOLULU — Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said Monday he plans to veto a bill that would remove mandatory certification for Hawaii-grown coffee, a measure Kona coffee farmers said would be disastrous for the industry's integrity and reputation. Abercrombie listed the bill as one of 19 he is considering vetoing from the 2012 legislative session. Some of the bills are still under consideration, he said. Kona coffee farmers who were against the certification repeal from the start welcomed the veto. The certification helps them fight against lesser-quality products, they said. "The implications of this measure are problematic," Abercrombie said. "Further discussion is needed to ensure that the Hawaii brand will not be undermined." Lawmakers passed the law as a measure to help a staffing shortage at the state Department of Agriculture, an agency that's eliminated all but one inspector on the ...

Note from Wondwossen: Ethiopia's government's lack of decency has reached a new low, thanks to the rulers' addiction to food aid. The government and ECX have now shamelessly resorted to monetizing the food aid that was meant for the destitute and hunger-stricken millions of Ethiopians. The government and ECX are in discussion "to sell surplus food aid to improve the country's electricity supply." In other words, they want to snatch the food aid from the dying souls to fund electricity projects, such as the one that they call the "Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam" project. This is shameful, outrageous, and immoral. First, it is a hoax to state that there is surplus food aid in Ethiopia while more than 15 million people are starving and millions more are barely making ends meet. If there is demand for the food aid that the government is going to sell, then what we have there is scarcity, not surplus. On the flip side, if there is surplus, t...

By William Davison Bloomberg June 21, 2012 June 21 (Bloomberg) -- Ethiopia Commodity Exchange Chief Executive Officer Eleni Z. Gabre-Madhin will step down on Sept. 30, the ECX said. She will be replaced by Anteneh Assefa from Bank of Abyssinia, who joins on Aug. 1, the Addis Ababa-based exchange said in a statement today. --- To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa at +44-20-7330-7500 or wdavison3@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Hilton Shone at +27-11-286-1928 or hshone@bloomberg.net

Where is Ethiopia’s Farmer Support Center? Wondwossen Mezlekia June 19, 2012 Farmer Gemede Roba was the icon of Oxfam's  campaign  during the Starbucks-Ethiopia coffee trademark dispute.  He lives in the Borena zone of  the Oromia  region,  one of the many coffee  growing  zones in Ethiopia.  (Photo: Courtesy of Oxfam America) In June 2007, as the coffee trademark dispute between Starbucks and the government of Ethiopia concluded behind closed doors, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz made a public statement promising to open a regional Farmer Support Center in Addis Ababa. Three years later in May 2010, I asked the company if it will fulfill its promises and open the Farmer Support Center in Ethiopia.  In an email response Starbucks said: “While we had originally planned for the Ethiopian branch to open soon after [the opening of the Starbucks East Africa Regional Farmer Support Center in Kigali, Rwanda]...