Coffee Links and Information

Coffee Resources

Oxfam's Mugged (PDF file, ? KB) report describes the human impact of the coffee crisis, its cause, how the giant coffee companies have benefited and the solutions. Download the full report (PDF file, 1.2 MB) or download the summary.
Oxfam's Bitter Coffee: How the Poor are Paying for the Slump in Coffee Prices
Discussion paper (PDF file, 520 KB) from the recent African Minesterial Conference on the coffee crisis and related issues - September 2002
Starbuck's new ethical sourcing policy
ActionAid's briefing Robbing coffee's cradle - GM coffee and its threat to poor farmers (PDF file, 520 KB), Ed John Madeley, May 2001
World Resources Institute report The Changing Face of Coffee Production
Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations report on Financing Economic Self-reliance and Member Participation in Farmer Organizations in Kenya - also includes information on Coffee growing co-operatives in Kenya

Fairtrade coffee growers (and consumers)
Read about how the lives of conventional coffee producers like Niassia Duta, from Kenya, have been affected by falling commodity prices.
The lives of Peruvian coffee growers New Internationalist resource

Nestlé - producers of Nescafé. With more than 3,000 cups consumed every second, Nescafé is by far the world's leading coffee brand.
Information from www.transnationale.org on Nestlé - brands, financial details, social structure, ILO violations, shareholders, subsidiaries, corruption, environment, human rights and marketing.
Kraft Foods - Brands within the Kraft portfolio include: Kenco, Maxwell House, Carte Noir and Cafe Hag.
Sara Lee - Sara Lee's Beverage business includes retail and foodservice coffee sales in major markets around the world. The company holds a leading position in the $33 billion USD worldwide retail coffee market. Sara Lee has the number-one position in coffee in Brazil, many European countries and the US foodservice market. In the US retail coffee market, the company holds the number-three position.

Cafédirect
Cafédirect Case Study
Equal Exchange A Fairtrade company supplying a range of Fairtrade and organic coffee, tea, cocoa, honey, nut butter, sugar and confectionery.
Traidcraft Charity and Fairtrade trading company.
What Is Fair Trade Certified Coffee All About?

Markets in action - coffee prices Fluctuations in coffee prices are great examples of commodity markets in actions. This study presentation, produced by Tutor2u, considers the key factors determining market supply and demand for coffee and also focuses on recent coffee price volatility and the economic consequences of falling prices.
New York Coffee Exchange - Coffee Workbook Huge amounts of information provided by powerpoint-based presentation on the coffee commodities market.
LIFFE - Background on the Coffee Industry A short summary on the coffee market from the London International Futures Exchange.
New York Coffee Exchange - Overview Useful summary of how the New York Coffee Exchange works

www.coffeeresearch.org A good source of information on all aspects of growing, harvesting and processing coffee, from the Coffee Research Institute
Commercial Coffee Farming: Terranova Estate Mazubuka, Zambia
The Colonial Administration in Zambia allocated much of the most fertile and cultivatable land to the European settlers to produce food for the urban areas that were growing up in copper belt. At independence many of these white farmers left and their lands were redistributed. Some remained, either continuing to produce maize or other crops for the Zambian market, or producing cash crops for the export market such as coffee.
The Terranova estate is a white-owned farm of over 1000 hectares employing 300 permanent workers and 2,300 temporary workers. The farm's location on some of the country's most fertile land enables it to produce high quality arabica coffee beans. The farm is part of the Zambian Coffee Growers Association, a group of 37 commercial farms and over 900 small-scale growers. Its large size enables it to benefit from a number of economies of scale.