A Word from TransFairUSA on Recent Starbucks Decision

by Zarah Patriana · 2008-10-29 13:43:00 UTC
Topics:

In response to Starbucks' latest decision to double their Fair Trade Certified Coffee purchases, Kim Moore over at TransFair USA sent over some words to share with all of us.

Zarah, you said it best.  The fact that Starbucks is doubling its purchases of Fair Trade Certified(tm) coffee is absolutely huge news.  It's big news for Starbucks, TransFair USA and the entire Fair Trade certification movement, but, most importantly, it's huge news for the farmers and families who will benefit directly.

To put this into perspective:

*       Starbucks has committed to buy a monumental 40 million pounds of Fair Trade Certified coffee in 2009, making it the largest buyer of Fair Trade Certified products in the world.  This number nearly equals the total US sales of Fair Trade Certified coffee in 2005 (44 million pounds).

*       Starbucks 2009 coffee purchases will represent a greater than 10% increase in total Fair Trade Coffee sales worldwide.  In 2007, over 135 million pounds of Fair Trade Certified coffee were sold around the world.

*       Starbucks increased dedication to Fair Trade Certified will benefit more than 100,000 farming families in countries including Ethiopia, Tanzania, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru and Indonesia.  Hundreds of thousands of farmers will be receive above-market prices for their beans, and the millions of dollars in Fair Trade premiums will be directly invested into improving their communities.

And it doesn't stop there!  Beyond this 40 million pounds of Fair Trade Certified coffee, Starbucks commitment is accompanied by its global reach and leadership in the coffee industry. By offering even more Fair Trade Certified coffee, Starbucks will continue to give the Fair Trade Certified label greater visibility, helping to raise consumer awareness of the label, in turn, giving more small farmers in developing countries the opportunity to participate in the Fair Trade system and receive its benefits.

This announcement is the culmination of years of support, dedication and enthusiasm. Whether you petitioned your local grocery store or restaurant to carry Fair Trade Certified products or simply made the ethical decision to make your morning cup of coffee Fair Trade Certified, we could not have come this far without you.

TransFair USA hopes that you will share our pride as we continue to push forward, filling stores, restaurants and coffeehouses with Fair Trade Certified products and improving the lives of struggling farmers and their families throughout the world.

-Kim Moore

Director of Business Development, Coffee and Beverages

TransFair USA

Zarah Patriana
PREVIOUS STORY:
Commentary on Recent Starbucks Decision
NEXT STORY:
A letter from Bettina Siegel, "Pink Slime" petition creator

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.