Synopses & Reviews
This book recasts the "development problem" for countries relying on commodity exports in entirely new ways by analyzing the so-called coffee paradox--the coexistence of a "coffee boom" in consuming countries and of a "coffee crisis" in producing countries. In consuming countries, coffee continues to grow in popularity. At the same time, international coffee prices have fallen dramatically and producers receive the lowest prices in decades. As long as coffee farmers and their organizations do not control at least parts of this production, they will remain on the losing end.
Synopsis
Can developing countries trade their way out of poverty? International trade has grown dramatically in the last two decades in the global economy, and trade is an important source of revenue in developing countries. Yet, many low-income countries have been producing and exporting tropical commodities for a long time. They are still poor. This book is a major analytical contribution to understanding commodity production and trade, as well as putting forward policy-relevant suggestions for 'solving' the commodity problem.
Through the study of the global value chain for coffee, the authors recast the 'development problem' for countries relying on commodity exports in entirely new ways. They do so by analysing the so-called coffee paradox - the coexistence of a 'coffee boom' in consuming countries and of a 'coffee crisis' in producing countries. New consumption patterns have emerged with the growing importance of specialty, fair trade and other 'sustainable' coffees. In consuming countries, coffee has become a fashionable drink and coffee bar chains have expanded rapidly. At the same time, international coffee prices have fallen dramatically and producers receive the lowest prices in decades.
This book shows that the coffee paradox exists because what farmers sell and what consumers buy are becoming increasingly 'different' coffees. It is not material quality that contemporary coffee consumers pay for, but mostly symbolic quality and in-person services. As long as coffee farmers and their organizations do not control at least parts of this 'immaterial' production, they will keep receiving low prices. The Coffee Paradox seeks ways out from this situation by addressing some key questions: What kinds of quality attributes are combined in a coffee cup or coffee package? Who is producing these attributes? How can part of these attributes be produced by developing country farmers? To what extent are specialty and sustainable coffees achieving these objectives?
About the Author
Benoit Daviron is a French agronomist and agricultural economist at CIRAD. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.
Stefano Ponte is Senior Researcher at the Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen.
Table of Contents
List of tables, figures, and boxes
Abbreviations
Preface
1. Commodity trade, development and global value chains
Division of labour and coordination in commodity production and trade: historical background
Commodities and development: the debate
Global value chains, commoditization and upgrading
The quality issue: material, symbolic and in-person service attributes
Conclusion
2. What’s in a cup? Coffee from bean to brew
Coffee flows and transformations
Production and export geography
Systems of labour mobilization and organization of production
Markets, contracts and grades
Retail and consumption: Commodity form and the latte revolution
Conclusion
3. Who calls the shots? Regulation and governance
Producing countries as key actors (1906-89)
The post-ICA regime (1989-present)
Regulation in producing countries
Coffee blues: international prices in a historical perspective
Conclusion
4. Is this any good? Material and symbolic production of coffee quality
From material to symbolic and in-person service attributes: quality along coffee value chains
Quality in producing countries
Quality in consuming countries
Conclusion
5. For whose benefits? ‘Sustainable’ coffee initiatives
Consuming sustainability
Analysis of selected sustainable coffee certification systems
Private and public/private initiatives on sustainability
Conclusion
6. Value chains or values changed
Value distribution along coffee chains: empirical evidence
Solving the commodity problem: theoretical approaches
7. A way forward
Governance and the coffee paradox
The end of regulation as we know it
Business and donors to the rescue?
What role for transparency?
Policies and strategies: an alternative agenda
Coffee, commodity trade and development
References
Index