What's the difference between fair trade and direct trade in coffee? Starbucks Fair Trade Coffee

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Coffee is the second largest commodity in the world after oil. Like other agricultural products, the price will follow? The harvest fluctuates. In order to maintain the livelihood of millions of people in the global coffee industry chain, since 1962, exporters and importers have participated in and formulated the International Coffee Agreement (International Coffee Agreement) to stabilize market supply with quotas.

The birth of Fairtrade stems from the promotion of handicrafts in developing countries by churches or charities. To participate in Fairtrade coffee, farmers must first pay to obtain certification and join recognized cooperatives to produce in certain environmentally friendly forms before they can be protected by a reserve price of US $1.40 (about HK $11) per pound. The cooperative society spends part of its income on community construction in producing areas to improve the living standards of farmers.

However, since the third wave swept the world, there has been a level called "boutique" in the pyramid of the coffee market. Coupled with the popularity of Cup of Excellence in coffee trials with a "blind test" score, coffee buyers have changed from buying raw beans from mixed farms to buying coffee on behalf of their reputations directly from winning farmers. Farmers are also gradually proud of their crops.

Fair Trade (Fairtrade) places special emphasis on the policy of protecting growers (protection). As a third-party organization, it specifies the minimum price at which it buys products from coffee growers to ensure that growers have at least the funds to cover production costs and sustainable production. In this way, when the coffee harvest is poor due to the influence of climate or other factors, the treaty guarantees the payment of a fixed basic price, and coffee growers do not have to worry too much.

The increased premium on this basis will be used as a common fund of Fair Trade to improve the economic, social and environmental conditions of local communities.

The original intention of fair trade is to improve the relationship between producers and consumers and to regulate some unbalanced factors (unequal trading relations, unstable markets, unfair trade terms). Thus helping producers (usually poor areas) to improve their living conditions. Fair trade provides a choice for people to reduce poverty in their daily consumption behavior.

Here are the concepts that Fairtrade often involves:

▶ Fair Trade buys coffee from local cooperatives or individual producers

▶ Fair Trade sets the minimum price to pay.

▶ product premium is used for community development, encourages knowledge and technology sharing, and improves community environment.

▶ prohibits child labor and discrimination

▶ requires the establishment and implementation of measures conducive to environmental sustainable development.

There is a problem:

The minimum price of ▶ is limited to Fairtrade organizations rather than individual farmers / producers at the end of the industry chain.

▶ price is fixed and there is no difference between countries.

High cost of ▶ certification

The cost of ▶ Fairtrade certification is actually transferred to the baker.

The price ▶ farmers receive from Fairtrade is not affected by coffee quality.

▶ price is opaque. The buyer pays the Fairtrade agency, but the price the farmer gets is unknown.

▶ lacks incentive mechanism for producers to improve the quality of coffee. As a result, some boutique coffee roasters are not interested in Fairtrade.

The original intention of direct trade is to eliminate some unbalanced factors in the traditional industrial chain. For example, unequal information may lead to lower prices for farmers than they deserve, which may lead to mistrust of middlemen. Direct trade aims to benefit both parties and establish a relationship of mutual respect between buyers and sellers.

The following are related concepts that are often involved in direct trade:

▶ buyers buy coffee directly from coffee producers of different sizes and forms, and the mode of cooperation is flexible.

▶ buyers assist coffee growers to improve the quality and value of coffee

Direct and continuous contact between ▶ buyers and growers

▶ ensures the sustainable development of farm economy

▶ encourages sustainable development of communities and the environment

▶ has no reserve price to pay.

▶ price transparency

No certification fee for ▶

There is a problem:

There's something wrong with the definition. Direct trade in the real sense requires the commitment of both sides, a long-term relationship of trust, and expensive. The buyer needs to take improving the quality of coffee as his core obligation.

There are a lot of arguments about fair trade and direct trade in the field of coffee, but it's not really a question of which is good or which is bad. Like many other coffee certifications (such as Organic and Rainforest Alliance), each certification has its own starting point, and its original intention generally stems from the protection of the rights and interests of producers, the protection of the environment, and the defence of fair and fair trade. and the pursuit of coffee quality. In a sense, certification is only a shallow sense of publicity, so that people understand the relevant concepts and values, what is really important lies in the real pay behavior and the continuous implementation of values.

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