Fair Trade Growing Everyday

Posted 1/13/2003

* More than 10,000 retail outlets and café chains now carry Fair Trade Certified(tm) coffee, including Safeway, Trader Joe's, Stop 'n' Shop, Borders Books, Whole Foods, Wild Oats, Albertson's, Andronico's, ExxonMobil stores, and many independent natural food stores and cafés. * *

Fair Trade Certified(tm) coffee is now available on more than 200 campuses nationwide, including Harvard, Cornell, Duke, Boston University, Georgetown, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Oklahoma State University.

* * NYU dining services recently announced that they now offer Fair Trade Certified coffee at no additional cost at all campus retail locations that sell coffee. The Yale University student council recently passed a resolution asking for Fair Trade Certified coffee in all campus dining halls. Catholic University has made the pledge to start serving Fair Trade in all their dining halls this Spring.

* * 160 roasters and importers across the country now offer Fair Trade Certified(tm) coffee.

* * New Fair Trade Certified(tm) Products

* * Fair Trade Certified(tm) cocoa hit the shelves this fall. Cost Plus World Market, Ithaca Fine Chocolates, Cocoa Camino and Day Chocolate company have all recently launched Fair Trade Certified(tm) chocolate bars in the US. Equal Exchange and Dean's Beans launched Fair Trade Certified(tm) Hot Cocoa Mix in October.

* * In October 2002, Trader Joe's launched its own private label Fair Trade Certified(tm) tea. Fair Trade Certified(tm) tea is currently being offered by seven companies in the US.

* * Newman's OwnR is launching Fair Trade CertifiedTM Coffee. Green Mountain Coffee has signed an agreement to be the exclusive roaster, seller and distributor of Newman's OwnR Organics Fair Trade CertifiedTM coffee. Six original coffees have been created, including double-certified Fair Trade and organic coffees from Central and South America. Look for them soon on supermarket shelves!

* * New Retailers Carrying Fair Trade Certified Products

* * Nordstrom has recently launched a fair trade and sustainable coffee program featuring Fair Trade Certified sustainable coffees. Specialty coffee roaster Coffee Bean International (CBI) has assisted Nordstrom in developing its unique selection of Fair Trade Certified and sustainable coffees and has selected its Haitian Bleu coffee as the first in the series. The new selection of whole bean coffees is available at nearly 90 Nordstrom espresso bars and is available freshly brewed at most locations.

* * Fred Meyer Stores, a division of Kroger with nearly 140 outlets throughout the West Coast, is now carrying a wide range of Green Mountain's Fair Trade Certified(tm) organic coffees. Fred Meyer is carrying the greatest variety of Fair Trade Certified(tm) coffees available today in a mainstream U.S. grocery chain.

* * Wild Oats Markets, Inc. recently formed a partnership with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters to sell double-certified organic and Fair Trade Certified(tm) coffee in Wild Oats and Nature's stores' bulk coffee and foodservice departments across the country.

* * Regional and Media News

* * In October, TransFair's Washington DC consumer education and marketing campaign hosted Rene Ausecha Chaux, General Manager of the Colombian Fair Trade Organic Coffee Cooperative. Rene participated in a Fair Trade briefing on the Hill, and met with representatives from USAID, non-governmental organizations, and university students during a 5-day visit. Thanks to a growing Fair Trade market, Rene's co-op has been successful in converting hundreds of acres of coca and poppy production to organic coffee.

* * The Washington DC campaign has helped 15 organizations and businesses make the switch to Fair Trade Certified(tm) coffee in their offices. Contact kari@transfairusa.org mailto:kari@transfairusa.org for more information on how your organization can make the switch.

* * The DC Metropolitan Labor Council (AFL-CIO affiliate) recently passed a Fair Trade resolution promoting the use of Fair Trade Certified coffee for its office, special events and among its affiliate organizations.

* * A public service announcement, featuring actor Martin Sheen explaining the importance of buying Fair Trade Certified(tm) coffee, kicked off our new Chicago consumer education and marketing campaign in September. The PSA will be airing in major cities across the country throughout the Fall. You can also view the PSA at http://www.fairtradecertified.org/

* * TransFair teamed up with Oxfam America and coffee roaster Equal Exchange to host two events with farmers from Nicaragua and El Salvador in Chicago.

* Major national and international media have featured Fair Trade this year including MSNBC, The Economist, Chicago Tribune, Seattle Times, CNN, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, New York Times, and Business Week. Visit www.fairtradecertified.org for copies of the articles. Concern about the Coffee Crisis and Support for Fair Trade is Growing on Capitol Hill

* The Senate will join the ranks of the World Bank, the European Parliament and the British House of Commons by serving Fair Trade Certified coffee in its cafeterias. In a signing ceremony of an alliance between U.S. Agency for International Development and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Senator Patrick Leahy (VT), announced that "the Senate restaurants will soon be offering the option of fair trade coffee to senators, their staffs and the public. Serving fair trade coffee in our own cafeterias and coffee shops is one step toward fair prices for coffee farmers," he said. Fair Trade Certified coffee is already available in two cafes in the House.

* In July, the House International Relations Subcommittee held hearings on the crisis and Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) introduced a House resolution expressing the sense of Congress that all branches of the Federal government should limit purchases of coffee to that which is Fair Trade Certified. In November, the House of Representatives unanimously passed House Resolution 604 that directs Congress to "adopt a global strategy to respond to the current coffee crisis" and urges "private sector coffee buyers and roasters to work with the US government to find a solution to the crisis which is economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable..." A similar resolution (S. Res. 368) passed in the Senate.

* TransFair has sent letters to all members of Congress thanking them for their support and encouraging them to support government purchasing of Fair Trade Certified coffee and to raise US purity standards for coffee imports. Pete Stark (D-Ca) will be reintroducing a Fair Trade Resolution in the New Year calling for government purchasing of Fair Trade Certified coffee. To encourage continued congressional attention to this devastating crisis, and the need for Fair Trade, we invite all Fair Trade supporters to send a letter to your congressional leaders encouraging support for Pete Stark's Fair Trade Coffee resolution. Please contact Kari Hamerschlag for more information (kari@transfairusa.org). Nonprofit and Faith-based Groups Supporting Fair Trade

* Support for Fair Trade is growing among faith-based organizations. Equal Exchange's Interfaith Coffee Program has teamed up with a number of faith-based social justice organizations to encourage congregations, now numbering more than 5000, to educate their members and serve Fair Trade Certified(tm) coffee. Other roasters with faith-based programs include: Pura Vida, Outreach Coffee, Grounds for Sharing, the Fair Trade Coffee Company, and Café Campesino. Contact information is available at www.fairtradecertified.org http://www.fairtradecertified.org * * Several nonprofit organizations, including the Sierra Club, Habitat for Humanity, and Defenders of Wildlife have partnered with Fair Trade licensed roasters to launch private label Fair Trade Certified(tm) coffees to raise funds for their work. Please contact us if you would like to raise money for your organization in this way.

* * University students recently established United Students for Fair Trade (USFT), a student-led international umbrella organization working to promote awareness and increase demand for Fair Trade on university campuses. For more information, contact Lina Musayev at linam@gwu.edu

* * Fair Trade Coffee Facts

* * Fair Trade Certified(tm) coffee is available from 23 origins in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

* 300 Fair Trade cooperatives, representing 500,000 farmers and their families, sell coffee through the Fair Trade market.

* Approximately 85% of the Fair Trade Certified(tm) coffee sold in the US is certified organic.

* Farmer cooperatives are guaranteed a fair price - $1.26 for conventional coffee and $1.41 for certified organic coffee - more than double the current world market price.

* Since 1999, TransFair has certified nearly 19 million pounds of Fair Trade coffee. These sales have generated more than $15 million in additional income for family farmers over what they would have received through conventional trade.

* Fair Trade Market Growth in the U.S. 1999 2000 2001 2002 (est.) Pounds of Green Coffee Certified as Fair Trade (yrly) 2.1 million 4.3 million 6.7 million 9.0 million Companies Offering Fair Trade Certified(tm) Products 33 78 120 160 Estimated Number of Retail Outlets 1,000 3,000 7,000 10,000 NY 'C' Commodity Market Price (rough average) $1.20 $0.80 $0.50 $0.55 Additional Farmer Revenues Generated by Fair Trade $1.5 million $3.1 million $5.1 million $7.5 million Fair Trade around the World 1)

* As of June 2002, FLO Fair Trade Standards exist for coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, honey, bananas, pineapple, mango, orange juice, rice and sports balls.

* * FLO is working with 274 certified producer organizations, representing around 800,000 families of farmers and workers, coming from 39 different countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America

* * Worldwide, between 2001 and 2002, Fair Trade Certified sales grew by 22%. Total retail sales of Fair Trade certified products in 2001 is estimated at 248 million Euro (roughly $250 million).

* * Worldwide, 29 million pounds of coffee were certified Fair Trade in 2001; 1.465 tons of cocoa and 1.077 tons of tea were certified. (Source: Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International Annual Report) A Crisis of Epic Proportions "In lush coffee-growing regions from Central America to Africa, the collapse of world coffee prices is contributing to societal meltdowns affecting an estimated 125 million people, [resulting in] a combustible brew of unemployment, hunger and migration." (Wall Street Journal, 7/8/02) The coffee crisis continues. Since 2000, world coffee market prices have dropped steadily--reaching their lowest point in real terms in history. As a result, coffee farmers are now receiving as little as $0.20 per pound for their crops--about 1/3 of the actual cost of production.

The result is widespread hunger, poverty and desperation. Field reports from coffee-growing regions tell of coffee being replaced by illegal crops, abandonment of farms, increased migration, and acute malnutrition and starvation. While the world market price has risen to $0.62 per pound in recent weeks, most coffee farmers will continue to receive less than half of that. Although there is no easy answer to solving the price crisis, Fair Trade is a viable market-based alternative that enables farmers to survive and invest in their farms and communities.