Our newsletter is also available on our website in English and French

June 2011
Coffee

Message to Members

In the past 12-18 months, retail coffee prices have significantly increased. What's going on in the coffee industry to generate such an increase ?

January 21, 2011:

A decade of malinvestment and roaster complacency is about to be put to the ultimate test over the next 12 to 18 months.

I believe that coffee prices will never see $1.20/pound ever again. The current price rise, in my even remotely close to an overpriced market.

For coffee producers the golden years are right in front of you and after years of living in abject poverty, your time for great wealth and riches has finally arrived.

- "Coffee Prices are Still Historically Extremely Cheap" The Hackett Money Flow Report, Hackett Financial Advisors Inc.


That's a quote that sums up pretty well the situation. And more precisely :
- Since March 2010, green coffee prices have increased by nearly 90% thanks to a 3rd year of historical levels of low production in Colombia,
- productivity per hectare of coffee plantation over the last ten years has decreased by at least 20-30%,
- Global demand is up by 2% and still rising,
- This imbalance between supply and demand has led to a feeding frenzy by speculators, causing prices to rise even further.

Due to high market prices, which in fact approach by a few cents or even exceed what a farmer would be paid by his coop in the Fair trade system, Fair Trade small producer coops are now unable to prevent many of their members from selling their coffee to mainstream multinationals (through the local coyotes-intermediaries), and as a result are unable to honour existing contracts and repay debt. This amounts to an existential crisis for the small producer coops that are the foundation of the Fair Trade system, as well as for the system itself.

Due to those same high prices, many small Fair Trade coffee roasters will soon be facing an equivalent existential crisis.

What can we do?

1. We must be conscious that the current period of high prices will not last forever. History shows that coffee, like other commodities, follows a "boom-and-bust" cycle. When the bubble bursts, the producers will once again have to rely on the assurance of the minimum price established inside the fair trade system through their coop. In the meantime, we must pay a price to these co-ops that will enable their survival through this crisis.
2. Santropol, along with other roasters across the world, is working to make sure that the fair trade minimum REALLY reflects what the producers need. And that the multinationals "bite the bullet" and agree to a real, sustainable increase in prices paid to producers.
3. Fair trade is more than just a fair price: it is also meant to foster equitable, dignified and mutually beneficial relationships between producers and consumers, and thereby address crucial issues of global economic and social justice.
4. The bottom line is that, even in the Fair Trade system, coffee has been too cheap for too long. As consumers, we tend to hate those high prices for a shot of caffeine. But in fact, for the first time in many years, we are all paying the small farmer something approaching the real production cost, Fair Trade or not. It's long overdue. Let's get used to it!

Dario Iezzoni, Team member of Santropol Coffee Roasters

Summer events

Produce barter market
It happens every year. You've seeded or purchased your plants, put them in the earth, watched them grow. Flowers have turned to vegetables (or fruits) and you come to the stark realisation that you are stuck with too much food.
The coop is inviting all its backyard farmers to take part in a barter market on Saturday afternoons from 1pm to 5pm, in front of the coop, from mid-June onwards. Bring your recent crop and exchange fruits and veggies with others!
We invite you to donate all the produce that has not been exchanged to the NDG Food Depot.

Recipe book submissions
We're slowly working to compile entries for a Coop Cookbook. The staff has certainly been trading recipes using ingredients they got at work, but we'd love to get inspired by your favourites, too. We know many of you have been doing your weekly groceries at the coop, and certainly you have a few favourite recipes you?ve put together with ingredients you've found here... Send them to us, and we'll feature them in our upcoming newsletter. Those with the most positive feedback get to be included in the cookbook!

++++++++++
Artist of the month for June: Bruno Zinno, recycled cork deco art (brunozinno (at) gmail.com)

Events

To sign up for an event, please call or visit the Co-op. Unless indicated, events are bilingual and free. For more information, visit our website.

5785, Sherbrooke street West, Metro Vendome + bus 105 - call us! 514-489-8000