FLO & Coffee Producers Take Actions to Overcome Challenges in Market

Reacting to turmoil in coffee markets over the past two years, Fairtrade International (FLO) has sponsored several actions as part of a Coffee Action Plan introduced in November...

Reacting to turmoil in coffee markets over the past two years, Fairtrade International (FLO) has sponsored several actions as part of a Coffee Action Plan introduced in November 2010. As of June, various partners in the Fairtrade system have provided risk management and contract negotiation training to 70 percent of the cooperatives in Bolivia, 50 percent of cooperatives in Peru, and has plans to conduct further trainings in Indonesia, Colombia and East Africa in the fall.

As part of the mediation process introduced in the Fairtrade Coffee Action Plan, traders that suffered a default on a coffee contract can qualify for product substitution, a special exemption to help traders stay in the Fairtrade system and fulfill their contracts. Product substitution means a trader is allowed to purchase coffee from an alternative source and sell it as Fairtrade. Within 12 months of that purchase, the trader must purchase an equal amount of Fairtrade coffee and sell it on as non-Fairtrade coffee.

More details in FLO press release.

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