Starbucks responds to Ethiopian issue

The Starbucks coffee chain has issued a strong statement in response to recent accusations from the likes of Oxfam and the Ethiopian government that it was indirectly blocking an attempt by the country to register trademarks for its coffee in the US. (as we have previously reported).

The company say no agreement has been made with Ethiopia over the row which has left their chief executive, Jim Donald, snowballed under letters of protest,. but they point to Starbuck’s dramatic increase in the purchase of coffee from under-developed areas, adding also that the price they are paying for it, per kilo, has been rising. It is quoted in the British newspaper ‘The Guardian’ as saying that the new price Starbucks is paying is the highest it had ever paid.

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