Equal Exchange, a 100% fair trade company (which I write about often), just upped the minimum prices it pays to coffee farmer co-ops. Fair trade co-ops will now receive AT LEAST $1.36 per lb for conventional coffee, and AT LEAST $1.56 for organic, when they sell to Equal Exchange.

Equal Exchange says “these are our new FLOOR prices, not an average price, and definitely not a ceiling. Over the years we have often paid prices above the FLO minimums on a case by case basis, and even with these new EE floor prices we will continue to sometimes pay even higher prices per pound.”

The news comes right on the heels of Fairtrade Labelling Organization’s own announcement, made last month, to raise premiums paid to fair trade coffee co-ops. FLO, the international organization that oversees fair trade certification, upped the fair trade minimum price for an lb of coffee to $1.31 for conventional, and $1.51 for organic.

For those curious about technicalities: Fair trade prices actually have 2 components: A minimum price, plus premiums. FLO’s March announcement upped NOT the minimum price — which was and remains $1.21 — but did up the social and organic premiums by 5 cents each, raising the total price.

Equal Exchange’s initiative, in contrast, raises the minimum $1.21 to $1.26. In addition, Equal Exchange will of course observe FLO’s higher social and organic premiums too. Thus, Equal Exchange’s total price paid to farmer co-ops will be an extra 5 cents over the new, “official” fair trade minimum price.

According to Equal Exchange’s company memo, the price increase is to “cover at least a portion of the production costs increases farmers have experienced since the early 1990’s” and to “increase our support for organic farming.”

In voluntarily setting an above-FLO minimum price for coffee, Equal Exchange joins the members of Cooperative Coffees, which pays $1.56 to coffee co-ops per lb of organic coffee.

Between 2000 and 2006, Equal Exchange paid $8,205,000 in premiums to coffee farmer co-ops above the NY “C” price, AND made $2,090,000 in profits, showing that a company can indeed be ethical and profitable.

You can, BTW, find Equal Exchange coffee at Co-opportunity. I bought some Ethiopian today — $9.99 an lb.

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