Comments on: Certification Challenges XVII: Fair trade minimums http://greenlagirl.com/2006/10/10/certification-challenges-xvii-fair-trade-minimums/ Urban environmental lifestyle blog in Los Angeles Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:43:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Siel http://greenlagirl.com/2006/10/10/certification-challenges-xvii-fair-trade-minimums/#comment-15155 Siel Sat, 14 Oct 2006 02:46:38 +0000 http://greenlagirl.com/2006/10/10/certification-challenges-xvii-fair-trade-minimums/#comment-15155 Hi James -- Equal Exchange is still 100% fair trade certified, so they're definitely paying fair trade minimums or higher. As for what companies ARE paying higher prices -- All of Cooperative Coffees have agreed to a minimum of $1.50 per lb. Intelligentsia and Groundwork have said that they're paying above the fair trade minimum for all their coffees; both companies are working on a web redesign to put all their financials up the web soon. Those're the ones I know of -- There may be more, but I don't know about them. The key thing to watch out for is that the sum that a company reports is the sum going to the co-op. For ex, Starbucks will brag about the money it pays for its coffee -- but this is the price that Starbucks pays NOT to the co-ops, but to the middlemen who mediate between Starbucks and coffee farmers. Hi James — Equal Exchange is still 100% fair trade certified, so they’re definitely paying fair trade minimums or higher. As for what companies ARE paying higher prices — All of Cooperative Coffees have agreed to a minimum of $1.50 per lb. Intelligentsia and Groundwork have said that they’re paying above the fair trade minimum for all their coffees; both companies are working on a web redesign to put all their financials up the web soon.

Those’re the ones I know of — There may be more, but I don’t know about them. The key thing to watch out for is that the sum that a company reports is the sum going to the co-op. For ex, Starbucks will brag about the money it pays for its coffee — but this is the price that Starbucks pays NOT to the co-ops, but to the middlemen who mediate between Starbucks and coffee farmers.

]]> By: James http://greenlagirl.com/2006/10/10/certification-challenges-xvii-fair-trade-minimums/#comment-14966 James Tue, 10 Oct 2006 23:53:10 +0000 http://greenlagirl.com/2006/10/10/certification-challenges-xvii-fair-trade-minimums/#comment-14966 "Pretty much all the fair trade committed companies I’ve talked to, including Dean’s Beans and Equal Exchange, feel the fair trade minimum prices for coffee need to be raised." So is Equal Exchange then paying higher than the fair trade minimum price on the coffee they import? What companies are? “Pretty much all the fair trade committed companies I’ve talked to, including Dean’s Beans and Equal Exchange, feel the fair trade minimum prices for coffee need to be raised.”

So is Equal Exchange then paying higher than the fair trade minimum price on the coffee they import? What companies are?

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