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The Scandal of the C-Price

coffee cherries picked in a hat

“Finance drowns the real economy.”

This is a point from Laudato Si, Pope Francis’ recent encyclical on the environment and poverty.

This phrase accurately explains what’s happening in the coffee sector. The “real economy” of the coffee sector consists of: millions of farmers and farmworkers who produce the world’s coffee; millers and roasters who add value to coffee; honest traders and retailers; and coffee consumers around the world.

Surrounding this real economy is the finance sector, which is necessary for mobilizing capital, but has proven most adept at concentrating wealth for a relatively small group of people with the financial and economic power to exploit the coffee market.

While some of the worlds’ largest coffee companies and shrewd traders have generated massive profits over the past decade, most coffee farmers and farmworkers remain poor and increasingly vulnerable to market volatility and other threats.

A few recent reports highlight the current scandal of the coffee market:

  • First, on August 20, the international price for coffee (C-Price) dropped below $1 per pound, to the lowest price since 2006.
  • Second, Caravela published a report on the cost of producing coffee in five different countries. Based on this impressive analysis, production costs are in the range of $1.05 to $1.40 per pound, meaning coffee prices are below the cost of production. Coffee farmers are losing money.
  • Third, the Specialty Coffee Association recently re-published its report on farmworkers, which raises two critical points: Approximately 70 percent of the cost of coffee production is labor, and most coffee workers receive less than a living wage. The bottom line: Farmworkers are living in deep poverty and they will not escape poverty by harvesting coffee.

Combined, these reports expose a crisis in the coffee business: Coffee is not sustainable, and “specialty coffee” should not be confused with “sustainable coffee.”

The C-price is drowning the real coffee economy.

“Finance” for the coffee sector is reflected in the C-Price, (the Arabica C-Market price listed is taken from the International Coffee Exchange (ICE). And the C-price is deeply flawed. How do we know it is flawed? Because pegging coffee prices at the C-price creates scenarios that justify severe inequality in coffee value chains and perpetuates deep poverty in the coffeelands.

Historically, the C-price is extremely volatile. But for some in the finance sector, volatility and confusion mean opportunities for quick profits:

Global demand for coffee has been growing with increasing population and changing taste buds in Asia. Coffee supply is highly dependent on seasonality and growing conditions in producing nations. Therefore, the price of coffee tends to be highly volatile attracting traders, investors, and speculators who seek to take advantage of the commodity’s highly volatile price.

The C-price exacerbates volatility in the coffee market because it relies too much on speculation and is based on very short-term projections. The market overreacts to information, such as the weather in Brazil, because too many people involved in the coffee trade are trying to make a buck in the short term.

One reason short-term volatility of the C-price wreaks havoc on the “real economy” is because coffee is a perennial crop, which takes about 5 years to come to full maturity. For this reason, there is a long lag-time between price signals versus farmers’ abilities to alter production. Farmers can’t possibly react in a timely way to the C-price, and this exacerbates price volatility.

The C-price is drowning the real coffee economy because it significantly increases risk to farmers — and other actors at the production side of the supply chain. Farmers are assuming far more risk than anyone else in the industry.

Why no urgency?

The lack of urgency about the C-Price contrasts starkly with the reaction to the recent coffee leaf rust epidemic in Central America. In 2012, the supply of specialty coffee was severely threatened by leaf rust, and the industry reacted with dozens of conferences, funding for research, and many development projects designed to help farmers recover from this crisis.

In contrast, this year, the industry is slow to react because there is not an immediate threat to coffee supply. The threat is to the lives of millions of coffee farmers and farmworkers, but these people don’t have the power to organize conferences or change policies; they are at the mercy of the market, and the market shows no urgency for change.

Another explanation for the lack of urgency is that many powerful actors in the coffee industry see no crisis. As mentioned above, shrewd commodity traders profit from price volatility. Also, many powerful large coffee companies are not fundamentally bothered by changes in the C-price.

Consider this: The C-price for a pound of coffee has very little bearing on the cost to produce a cup of coffee in your favorite coffee shop. A small americano is about $2 plus taxes. What goes into this $2? When you dissect all costs involved in a cup of coffee (renting prime real estate, payroll, utilities, insurance, taxes, etc.), the cost of coffee beans is, in fact, negligible. This is one reason why the cost of a small coffee does not rise or fall with the C-price. Calculating the cost of coffee for capsules and pods leads to a very similar conclusion: The cost that farmers receive to produce a pound of coffee has very little influence on the retail price for packaged single-serve coffees.

The coffee industry does not react to the C-price because the most powerful actors in the industry don’t see a crisis.

No easy solutions

I am no expert on coffee markets, and I confess I dove into this issue naively looking for an easy fix. I live in El Salvador and work with coffee farmers and farmworkers so I see firsthand people slipping into deep poverty — desperate and hungry, their kids out of school because mothers don’t have the means or stability to send them there. I also know the potential of coffee to be a hero crop — to pull people out of poverty and protect natural resources — so seeing this potential eroded by market forces that are so unjust and stupid (no better word for it) sparks anger and indignation.

There are many companies and certification programs that work to circumvent the commodity market, but generally these efforts only affect a small portion of the coffee trade.

Over the past two months, I’ve reached out to experts to learn and bounce ideas. We’ve bantered about a minimum price for all coffee — to “break” the C-price, similar to the FT price; we’ve talked about regulations and insurance markets to stabilize production and price volatility; I have read many recent blogs, tweets and articles (including this piece in Daily Coffee News by  Parker Townley, Ben Zwerling Baltrushes and Colleen Anunu. In the end, while I believe there are traders and powerful companies that profit from an unjust market,I understand there are no obvious, easy solutions. But there is an urgent need for real solutions.

One trader I trust a great deal suggested we initiate a conversation about this issue to explore the root causes of the C-price crisis and pursue viable solutions.

Following this pursuit, the next post will explore the idea for a new benchmark for coffee prices, and invite responses and recommendations from a few experts.

Comment

15 Comments

Hugo Ciro

Hello Paul Hicks. I read with great interest your article, “The Scandal of the C-Price”. I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the situation. It’s a complex issue, but farmers need better answers. We take them for granted.
Thank you for raising these issues.

Hugo Ciro
Level Ground Trading, Victoria, BC Canada

Alexey

It’s very sad to read such material and realize that you are weak in influencing the situation.
It seems to me that in many industries with a long chain from producer to consumer the same problems: gold, crude oil, minerals.
Who in this chain earns the most? Difficult question.
A cup of coffee for $ 2 ….
But this does not mean that the cafe receives super-profits.
In South Korea, coffee boom. But cafes are closed as often as they open.

Gary A. Golden

Very good article but once more it will be ignored as long as coffee shop proprietors and supermarkets are falsely allowed to shout the words ” our coffee is sustainable” without any recourse whatsoever.

We’re monumentally unpopular in the industry for a two reasons –

1 We roast all our coffees at source, using local Probats just like everyone else, meaning around 30% more revenue from the production process stays where it’s most needed.

2 We teach English to coffee farming communities in our institutes free of charge. Meaning that very soon these people won’t be as reliant on intermediaries hoovering up 90% of the profits and leaving them in abject poverty. The classes focus on learning all there is to know about the industry from planting to Q Grading, to exporting.

Shameful I know. http://www.not1bean.com – not one bean is roasted anywhere but at source.

Thomas

Hi Paul, this is a very good article and a true crisis. While the big companies profit during the low C-Price times, they hurt during the high C-Price times because they build their profit model off low prices.

Additionally, this does affect the long term supply as farmers will stop picking and will replace coffee with other commodities such as rubber trees. As you mentioned, it takes 5 years to reach maturity of coffee tree production, so if they change crops it takes a long time to change back. Remember the C-Prices of 2010 and 2011 when they were at $3.00+.

Anytime the cost of production is greater than the C-Price it is a true crisis and needs to be addressed.

Again, great article!

James Kosalos

Mr. Gary, You think you are “monumentally unpopolar in the industry?” HA! We have a few things to teach you.

Alan Finney

Hello Gary,
A thoughtful article about the C-Price. My experience working with Rwanda and Kenya coffee producers shows that a viable solution is to put more emphasis on producing premium mild arabica – in Rwanda we call this fully washed arabica coming from a number of well equipped and well managed coffee washing stations. I notice that some of the specialty buyers pay $7 and above for premium mild with zero defects which we are able to achieve.

Regards,
Alan Finney
Coffee agribusiness Management

Gary A. Golden

James
When we ask coffee shop owners to take a little coffee roasted at source they say “but for it to be fresh it has to be roasted and be in the cup the same day” then they sell to local stores and put best before dates a year in advance! So they’re either selling coffee that’s not fresh to supermarkets or they’re not – can’t be both.

Here in Colombia the average age of a coffee farmer is 56, in Africa it’s 60, the next generation have left the farms to earn more money washing pots in restaurants, meanwhile anyone roasting in Europe or the USA is simply condemning coffee farmers to abject poverty.
Try telling the French that you expect them to just pick their grapes and ship them to the UK to be pressed and turned into champagne.

joe

it seems that the money supplying the entire value chain trickles down from the consumer. the only solution i see is to charge the consumer more. until we do this, nothing will change. then have your shop set up a direct line through paypal or the like, for an additional percentage of the consumer cost to bypass the rest of the chain and go directly to the producers that are supplying your roastery or shop. this will be on top of what the producer was already paid by the green buyer. nobody else in the value chain should keep track of this amount, otherwise they may be likely to try to pay your producers less next time. it is strictly between you, the consumer, and the coffee producer. take it into your own hands, and lead by example. explain the system to your customers and why it is necessary for the sustainability of coffee. keep it at the DIY level without certification-like involvement.

Gary A. Golden

Just include the farmer in the process, cutting him out after picking is saying they’re only good for field work – it’s not difficult.

Rodolfo Ruffatti

Hi Paul,

I would start by only granting access to the coffee market to companies who will take delivery of the coffee contract they purchase. This would remove all speculators and the volatility and market manipulation they put in place.

Matt Earley

Thanks for this important article.

A concrete step towards a larger solution would be for roasters and importers to have their own minimums that are not dependent on the “C” when negotiating contracts. Our importing cooperative, Coop Coffees, discussed with our suppliers and we moved to a $2.20 minimum per pound price this year. Fixing the system is a complex issue, but taking steps as individuals within the system is not nearly as difficult.

Jamie Coutts

Hi Paul

Many thanks a very interesting article,
And how all this comes down to the injustice off the value chain / price structure paid to the farmers.
I feel that the change since 2001 on climate and pest problems with over production through the new varieties have Taken it’s toll on the farmers.
Quality In country coffee on the local markets has to be moved too be able to promote a national quality or small óptiones for producers.

Jamie Coutts
Coutts Coffee Farms
Usulután, El Salvador

Filatov Dima

The greatest idea has been offered by Rodolfo Ruffatti in the comments above.
The best way would have been to exclude all the traders with no supported by real commodity contracts.
Some participants of whole the process may not deal with real coffee industry but get huge profits from speculating.
And here we get all we get – speculators having yachts and farmers having nothing.

Joaqin

The “C” price exactly determines the point of not having not enough to life & not quite killing the coffee farm. Simple and cruel as that.

Comments are closed.