Fair Trade
Until 1989 an international coffee agreement existed. The exporting countries
had the duty to adapt offer and demand and so to stabilize the price of coffee.
After the fail of the agreement, the coffee producing countries tried to export
as much as possible. The offer exceeded the demand and the coffee price highly
decreased. The ones who suffered were once again the coffee farmers. For many
of them the plantation of coffee was no longer profitable, especially in South
America many farmers planted koka bushes instead of coffee bushed.
Therefore organizations, with the target to promote the fair trade, were
established. This establishment became soon success: Coffee from fair trade
constituted
fast 3% of all coffee traded in Switzerland annually, which corresponds to
1'200 tons coffee. The price for fair trade coffee in Switzerland depending
on sales office lies between CHF 14 (about 11.95 USD) and CHF 22 (about 18.80
USD) per kilo.
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