Coffee: An empty cup for growers

Phil Bloomer
International Herald Tribune

OXFORD, England When it comes to making money out of food or drink, coffee is the king. No other sector produces profits quite like it. Major coffee roasters are riding of a cash cow that seemingly never runs out of milk. At the top of the ladder, things couldn't be better. But at the bottom, 25 million farmers are sinking deeper and deeper into poverty. In the space of three years, the price of coffee on the international market has sunk to its lowest point for over 100 years. In the last three years alone, the price of coffee has been slashed in half.
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While at the top of the supply chain this means profit margins are even better, at the bottom farmers are being mugged.

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