Fair trade

vivatifosi

Not something that is often discussed here so thought I'd start a thread.

I just watched the excellent documentary Black Gold, about Ethiopian coffee producers. It is currently free on Amazon Prime and well worth a watch.

The coffee produced in the movie is widely regarded as among the finest in the world. Companies like Illy talk about how good it is. Yet because the price is essentially set by the global commodities market, the small farmers on the film are receiving a poverty wage for their produce. There are fair traders buying the produce, including Asda and Taylors, but these are a tiny part of the market.

The film was critical of the EU and its role in the collapse of the most recent WTO talks. The African farmers made the point that they protect their own farmers and pay them through e.g. CAP, but African farmers can't benefit from such mechanisms.

Africa is, according to the film, the only continent in the world to see its standard of living fall over the past 20 years, and only generates 1% of the world's trade. It said that if we could achieve fairer and more equitable trade with the continent, it wouldn't need aid.

An interesting point for discussion?

Here's more info from film:

http://www.blackgoldfoundation.org
http://blackgoldmovie.com

davomcdave

It is a problem if you make a good product in a commdoitised market. As far as I can see you face one of three options:

1. Accept you face a market price and maximise your profits by cutting your costs to the bone and so make the same crap everyone else does (the Nescafe option)
2. Find a way to differentiate your product no matter how bizarrely (the Sumatra poo coffee option)
3. Something else (e.g. get Oxfam/another NGO to differentiate your coffee for you as a Fairtrade option)

Sorry I didn't watch the film yet, I will try to but the above really sums up markets like coffee, computer chips, T-shirts and pornography (fair trade !!!!!! is a thing just don't Google it from work and I understand poo !!!!!! is too).

A_Medium_Size_Jock

There was at one time not so long ago a poster on these forums often affectionately referred-to as "Clappers", now sadly no longer posting.

Whatever this particular posters' faults (and being honest, don't we all have faults?) his talk of how the EU had materially encouraged such African hardship and increasing inequality was spot-on - though maybe he did "go on about it" too much for some forumites liking.
Note please that I'm not saying this to be "anti-EU" as such, just stating fact which is easily verifiable.

See the report linked below and see how cocoa bean growers too suffer, and how Africa is trapped by policies of the EU :
https://capx.co/how-the-eu-starves-africa-into-submission/