Coffee does not grow in Switzerland, but rather in the so-called coffee belt, between the 23rd parallel north and 25th parallel south parallel to the equator. Central America, Brazil, Indonesia, India, Vietnam belong to the major production regions, but also East Africa with Ethiopia and Kenya. While coffee is omnipresent in our everyday lives, the social, ecological and financial damage in coffee cultivation is far away.
The Corporate Responsibility Initiative directly affects coffee cultivation and trade and the responsibility of roasteries. Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Suter also cites coffee in interviews as an example<1><2>, but derives an argument against the initiative from this.
As a coffee roastery, Switzerland's largest coffee school and co-operator of a coffee farm in Nicaragua, we strongly disagree with the representation by Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter.
Instead, we see important impulses emanating from the Corporate Responsibility Initiative that can contribute to a more sustainable and forward-looking coffee industry. The Corporate Responsibility Initiative is an opportunity for the Swiss coffee industry to secure its future in the long term, to build lasting trade relationships with producers, and to secure access to the increasingly scarce resource of coffee.
The CRI is a historic correction for the coffee industry
The coffee industry has been able to hide behind anonymity for the last two centuries. Production conditions, purchasing prices, trading practices, the asymmetrical power relationship between producers in the southern hemisphere and the processing industry in mostly the northern hemisphere were long not questioned – and if they were, much remained the same.
Recently, however, there have been increasingly encouraging developments and increased commitment within the international coffee roasting industry for transparency and fairness along the coffee chain<3>.
Opponents of the CRI argue that "global supply chains with thousands of suppliers are highly complex" and "usually beyond the sphere of influence of the contractors"<4>. As a coffee roastery, we must disagree with this.
Every roastery has it in its own hands to carefully set up its own supply chain, control it, and work with partners who pursue a corresponding mindset. It is not beyond the sphere of influence of the contractors – in this example the coffee roastery – whether coffee can be obtained with a properly structured supply chain or not.
It depends solely on the will and the standards of whether this path of entrepreneurship is taken.
That coffee chains can become traceable, more resilient and more predictable is a development that is long overdue and has been handled historically quite laxly. The CRI is a correction with potential for the coffee industry to meet the signs of the times.
Opportunities instead of risks for coffee roasteries
For a growing number of small and large roasteries, the CRI has little or no impact. These roasteries obtain coffee directly or semi-directly (intermediary traders), build long-term relationships with coffee producers and maintain constant communication both by phone and through travels to growing countries.
The decision to source directly is particularly motivated for smaller roasteries by the desire to take on shared responsibility. In many cases, higher prices are paid for raw coffee beans that are not based on the coffee exchange.
The larger the roastery, the more raw coffee it purchases. This also means it indirectly deals with a larger number of production and trading partners. While this also increases the effort – this does not relieve roasteries of their responsibility. Roasteries have the task of carefully and conscientiously selecting raw coffee suppliers. Consumers should be able to rely on the fact that their coffee has been produced responsibly.
The Corporate Responsibility Initiative is here a complementary impulse that can help to sharpen the focus even more for risks on coffee farms. It forms a basis for targeted dialogue with trading partners. The CRI is a necessary wake-up call for the coffee industry and coffee trade to focus more on the sustainability of the value chain.
A trade relationship structured in this way is an opportunity, not a risk. Due to growing coffee consumption in new markets such as China and India and changing growing conditions due to climate change, the coffee industry faces a shortage of high-quality coffees over the next 15 years. Reliable, sustainable and mutually responsible trade relationships secure roasteries' access to the increasingly scarce resource of coffee.
Philipp Schallberger and Benjamin Hohlmann
<2> SRF ARENA
