Friday, May 23, 2003


more destruction, in a good way.

long-time readers know i'm deeply interested in the world-price depression known as the coffee crisis. lately there has been an upswing in activity to combat this problem, which is the cause of so much human misery.

part of the problem is an oversupply of really low-quality coffee, which depresses prices. this is great for folgers and the other multi-nationals who sell most canned coffee at the market, because they can buy bad coffee super-cheap, manipulate it through their various modern methods and give you -- well, you know, that artifically-scented steamed stuff you seen in the supermarket cans, or parading about as international house of hazelnut romance. yuck.

what i don't understand is that with coffee prices so low, why the multinationals don't buy better coffee super-cheap and improve their product. they could actually make their coffee good again; they could sell a better quality product at a lower price and still make money hand over fist!

what nonsense i'm speaking -- as you can see, i'm not making chief finance officer of a fortune 500 anytime soon. because of course their goal is to buy low-quality coffee as cheaply as possible, hide its flaws, and then sell it to us at premium prices. thus making money 3 hands over 2 fists.

oxfam has long argued for the voluntary destruction of much of the lowest-quality coffee before it even goes to market. recently mexico destroyed some coffee; and now a mass producer of some of the worst coffee in the world, vietnam, is doing the same.

they are looking to destroy 20% of their coffee acreage by 2005. but will it be too little too late?

posted by fortune | 9:36 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments