History
The Arabic word "KAHWA" (قهوة) once referred to the black beverage from Kaffa, a province in the south-west of Ethiopia, whose capital is Jimma.
The most common legendary account has it that a goatherd from Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia) called Kaldi observed the unusual vitalising effect of this plant on goats that had eaten its berries.
In the 15th century, Muslims introduced coffee to Persia, Egypt, North Africa and Turkey, where the first café Kiva Han opened in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) in 1475.
In Paris, the first café to open was café Procope. Parisian cafés soon became places where liberal ideas developed. Philosophers were regular clients and pamphlets and libels were often distributed in them.
By the middle of the 18th century each European town had several cafés and in 1732, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote an ode to the café.
Today
The annual world production of coffee is in the region of 100 million 60-kilo bags, i.e. 6 million tonnes.
Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer followed by Vietnam, Colombia and Indonesia.
Ethiopia ranks fifth, with the world's best coffees.
Coffee is produced exclusively in the southern hemisphere but consumed mainly in the northern hemisphere. Arabica prices are fixed by the New York Stock Exchange (NYBoT) without any correlation with work as actually experienced by growers and preparers of green beans.
Today, five companies control 70% of the world coffee market*:
KRAFT (Subsidiary of Altria - Philip Morris) - (Jacques Vabre - Carte Noire - Grand-Mère - Velours Noir - Maxwell House - Tassimo - Velouté - Café Privilège - Jacobs)
SARA LEE - (Café do Ponto - Café Pilao - Café Prima - Douwe Egberts - Maison du Café - Marcilla - Merrild - Moccona)
TCHIBO - (Tchibo - Davidoof Café - Vista - Pure - Piacetto - Eduscho - Wiener Gold - African Blue - Gala No. 1 - Sana - Grancafe)
NESTLÉ - (Nescafé - Nespresso)
J.M. SMUCKER - (Folgers)
* Source: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU
The remaining 30% market share is divided between Malongo, Lavazza, San Marco, etc. as well as fair trade.
Not very fair trade
The crisis of the early 2000s placed nearly 25 million small coffee producers worldwide in a very difficult position.
In Ethiopia, the price of the 60-kg bag of coffee dropped from 670 birrs (€63) in 2000 to 150 birrs (€14) in 2004, and this led to the bankruptcy of thousands of small farmers. And while children were being devastated by hunger, malnutrition, amoeba and tuberculosis, the revenues and net profits of coffee lords were exploding. For example, in 2000, when the producer purchase price from began to slump, Sara Lee increased its profits by 17%, while Nestlé increased its profits by 26%. For Tchibo, 2000 was the most profitable year of its entire history: its net profits increased by 47%. (source: Jean Ziegler - L'Empire de la honte - Livre de poche - Page 185)
Coffee is the symbol of fair trade for the following reasons:
- It is the most exported commodity after oil.
- Although it is produced by small farmers and family undertakings, its price is fixed by the stock market price at the New York stock exchange(NYBoT).
Unfortunately there is currently very little difference (or even not at all as was the case in 2008) between the price paid by fair trade and the one fixed by the New York stock exchange. This type of trade can now be assimilated to a marketing strategy rather than a truly ethical practice.
