Fairtrade coffee sales steady in economic downturn

Carrie Reinheimer October 30, 2008 9:08 am

Global sales of Fairtrade coffee are holding up well despite an economic slowdown, coffee dealers and farmers' unions said on Thursday. The Fairtrade system helps farmers and workers from poor countries to develop their communities through fairer terms of trade. The movement developed in the 1990s at a time of falling commodity prices.
Barbara Crowther, head of communications at London-based Fairtrade Foundation, the certification body behind the Fairtrade label, said the global financial crisis would not stop consumers from buying premium-cost Fairtrade coffee. "As of now we have not yet experienced here a significant impact in terms of reduction in the price of fairly traded coffee," said Joseph Nkandu, executive director of the National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses and Farm Enterprises in Uganda.” It has not been so long since the financial crisis began. Probably we will start noticing if it drags on. "Dessalegn Jena, deputy general manager of the Oromia Coffee Farmers' Co-operative Union in Ethiopia, said the Fairtrade coffee market was growing to meet consumer demand, but he voiced concern about the outlook due to the economic meltdown. Spokesmen for Nestle, the world's biggest food group, and ASDA, Britain's second-biggest supermarket group, said the global credit crisis had not yet affected sales of Fairtrade coffee. Fairtrade coffee sales at ASDA were steady, and non-Fairtrade coffees and instant coffees were growing modestly, an ASDA spokesman said. "Consumers tend to buy into Fairtrade because they believe in the ethics behind the products," he said. "We are waiting to see whether the credit crunch begins to impact Fairtrade coffee sales in the future. Seattle-based coffee shop chain Starbucks Corp said this week it was doubling its global buying of Fairtrade certified coffee to 40 million pounds ($64.13 million) in 2009 making it the largest purchaser of Fairtrade certified coffee. "The increased purchases will come from (Fairtrade) co-operatives in Latin America, Asia Pacific and Africa," a Starbucks spokeswoman said.
It is good to see that one part of the economy is seeing a bright light. I feel like even though it is coffee it is still good to see something in the economy doing well. Maybe this will be a start of something new and the economy will start to see a better light. I think the economy is starting to go up because the American dollar just went back up a little but and now the coffee is making a come back. I think that everything is going to fine.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7957471