|
|
|
Starbucks to Help Costa Rica Starbucks Coffee International, the world's largest chain of gourmet coffee retail stores, has announced it will increase its annual purchase of Costa Rican specialty (Chiquita) beans from 400,000 sacks to more than 1 million over the next four years - effectively pulling Costa Rica out of the international coffee crisis. Starbucks' "Fair Trade" policy of paying nearly double the amount of commodity-grade coffee prices has already helped many small- and medium-sized Costa Rican producers survive the recent slump in international coffee prices, according to Juan Bautista Moya, executive director of the Costa Rican Coffee Institute (ICAFE). With Starbucks' dramatic increase in purchases over the next four years, "there will no longer be a crisis," Moya said. The Fair Trade system is limited to cooperatives and small-scale farmers and represents less than 2% of the world's coffee producers, according to Seattle-based Starbucks. ICAFE credits Starbucks with helping the country develop a niche in the specialty coffee market, and introducing Costa Rica's name around the world as a quality coffee producer. Forty percent of Costa Rica's production consists of high-quality beans, and Starbucks - the country's largest buyer - purchases from Costa Rican producers nearly 30% of the specialty coffee it sells in its 6,500 shops in 28 countries. "Thanks to the prices [Starbucks] pays our company, we have had more money to attend to our plantation, pay better wages to our pickers and employees, and even buy Christmas presents for my kids," said producer Miguel Badilla, of the Coope Dota cooperative in Cartago. Starbucks also honored Costa Rica last week by announcing a new Central American agronomy office that will open here in the coming months to monitor the quality of coffee in the region. As a show of its appreciation to the coffee giant, on Sept. 12 - in celebration of National Coffee Day - ICAFE presented Mary J. Williams, vice-president of Starbucks Purchasing Division and an instrumental figure in implementing the company's Fair Trade policies in Costa Rica, with its annual Coffee-Sector Medal of Merit. The award is given each year to someone who has contributed greatly to Costa Rica's coffee sector. Williams is considered in Costa Rica to be a leader in promoting national quality coffee abroad and for helping to ensure the sustainability of Costa Rica's small - and medium-sized producers with elevated wages. In addition to Starbucks, Costa Rica sells its specialty coffees to smaller buyers in the United States, including Green Mountain in Vermont, Peets Coffee of California, Royal Coffee of New York and Danny O'Neil Specialty Coffees of California. Though Costa Rica supplies coffee lovers around the world with gourmet beans, domestic consumption of specialty coffees is just starting to catch on. Asked if Starbucks plans to open a store in Costa Rica, Williams said: "I am sure they will, but there are no immediate plans." |