Comments on: Fair Trade Coffee; a tutorial http://growersandgrocers.net/2006/08/12/fair_trade_coffee_a_tutorial/ From farm to table, and all the stops along the way. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:56:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Lucy Arin http://growersandgrocers.net/2006/08/12/fair_trade_coffee_a_tutorial/#comment-131 Sun, 20 Aug 2006 16:55:32 +0000 http://growersandgrocers.net/2006/08/12/fair_trade_coffee_a_tutorial/#comment-131 Hi Marc-<br /> Thanks for joining the conversation. I found your info very interesting, thanks for sharing.<br /> <br /> ~Lucy<br /> Hi Marc-
Thanks for joining the conversation. I found your info very interesting, thanks for sharing.

~Lucy

]]> by: Marc http://growersandgrocers.net/2006/08/12/fair_trade_coffee_a_tutorial/#comment-130 Sun, 20 Aug 2006 10:04:30 +0000 http://growersandgrocers.net/2006/08/12/fair_trade_coffee_a_tutorial/#comment-130 Mark Pendergrast's <i>Uncommon Grounds</i> (1999) has an interesting breakdown of production, processing and distribution costs for a pound of coffee. It's a little old (especially the price of green beans, which fell 50% in the early 00's), but still enlightening:<br /> <br /> $1.30 - the green beans<br /> $0.11 - pre-roast freight, storage, and handling<br /> $0.31 - 18% weight loss during roasting<br /> $0.12 - fuel for roasting<br /> $0.25 - labor to pack into 5 lb. bags<br /> $0.30 - shipping to stores<br /> $2.15 - overhead for roaster and distributor<br /> $0.24 - profit for roaster<br /> <br /> Thus, the delivery price to the retailer is $4.78.<br /> <br /> Lots of historical coffee price data can be found at the International Coffee Organization ( http://www.ico.org/ )<br /> <br /> Mr. Pendergrast also has a book about Coca-Cola, which is relevant to many of the recent posts here (and has his guess for Coke's secret formula). Mark Pendergrast’s Uncommon Grounds (1999) has an interesting breakdown of production, processing and distribution costs for a pound of coffee. It’s a little old (especially the price of green beans, which fell 50% in the early 00’s), but still enlightening:

$1.30 - the green beans
$0.11 - pre-roast freight, storage, and handling
$0.31 - 18% weight loss during roasting
$0.12 - fuel for roasting
$0.25 - labor to pack into 5 lb. bags
$0.30 - shipping to stores
$2.15 - overhead for roaster and distributor
$0.24 - profit for roaster

Thus, the delivery price to the retailer is $4.78.

Lots of historical coffee price data can be found at the International Coffee Organization ( http://www.ico.org/ )

Mr. Pendergrast also has a book about Coca-Cola, which is relevant to many of the recent posts here (and has his guess for Coke’s secret formula).

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