Mixed Reviews for Starbucks' Fair Trade Claims

Fair trade coffee has become an increasingly important commodity these days, as the typical coffee farmer has become more impoverished than ever before, falling further and further into debt and losing their land due to falling coffee prices. In spite of these dire trends, many coffee companies are not doing enough to ensure that coffee farmers are paid their fair share of coffee prices, even though the idea of "fair trade" coffee is becoming a fashionable alternative to the usual cut-throat business practices currently in use.

According to the Global Exchange web site, which in turn cites Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International, only about 20 per cent of fair trade coffee production is sold at a fair trade price. The remainder is sold at world prices, which is almost always significantly lower than fair trade prices.

One of the purported exceptions to this generality is the Starbucks Corporation, which according to its own web cite prides itself on purchasing coffee at fair trade prices. For its coffee, according to Starbucks, the corporation pays "premium prices that are substantially over and above the commodity-grade coffee price."

The Global Exchange, however, writes a somewhat different version of this story. Since 2000, according to this web site, consumers have been asking that Starbucks offer brewed coffee at fair trade prices, instead of only charging that price for the roasted whole bean. This the corporation has yet to do, although many Starbucks outlets will brew a pot of fair trade coffee if they are asked to do so by the customer.

According to the Global Exchange, as a result of a campaign by thousands of activists in the year 2000, Starbucks bowed to collective pressure and instituted fair trade coffee for whole bean purchases.