Coffee does not grow in Switzerland, but in the so-called coffee belt, between the 23rd parallel north and 25th parallel south, running parallel to the equator. Central America, Brazil, Indonesia, India, Vietnam are among the major production regions, as is East Africa with Ethiopia and Kenya. While coffee is omnipresent in our everyday lives, the social, ecological and financial damage caused by coffee cultivation remains far away.
The Corporate Responsibility Initiative directly affects coffee cultivation and trade, as well as the responsibility of roasters. Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Suter also mentions coffee in interviews as an example<1><2>, but draws 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 made by Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Suter.
Instead, we see important impulses emanating from the Corporate Responsibility Initiative that can contribute to a more sustainable and future-oriented coffee industry. The Corporate Responsibility Initiative is an opportunity for the Swiss coffee industry to establish itself on a long-term, future-proof basis, to develop 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
Over the past two centuries, the coffee industry has been able to hide behind anonymity. Production conditions, purchase prices, trading practices, and the asymmetrical power relationship between producers in the southern hemisphere and the processing industry mostly in the northern hemisphere went unchallenged for a long time – and even when they were questioned, much remained unchanged.
However, there have recently been increasingly encouraging developments and greater commitment within the international coffee roasting industry for transparency and fairness along the coffee chain<3>.
Opponents of the CRI claim that "global supply chains with thousands of suppliers are highly complex" and "usually beyond the sphere of influence of the clients"<4>. As a coffee roastery, we must disagree with this.
Every roastery has it in its own hands to carefully establish its own supply chain, monitor it, and work with partners who share such values. It is not beyond the sphere of influence of the clients – in this case the coffee roastery – whether coffee can be sourced with a properly documented supply chain or not.
It comes down solely to the will and the ambition of whether this path of entrepreneurship is taken.
The fact that coffee chains can become traceable, more resilient and more predictable is a development that is long overdue and has been treated rather laxly historically. For the coffee industry, the CRI is a correction with the potential to address the signs of our times.
Opportunities rather than risks for coffee roasters
For a growing number of smaller and larger roasteries, the CRI has little or no impact. These roasteries source coffee directly or semi-directly (through intermediary traders), build long-term relationships with coffee producers, and maintain steady communication both by phone and through visits to the growing countries.
The decision for direct sourcing is particularly motivated at smaller roasteries by the desire to take on shared responsibility. In many cases, higher prices are paid for raw coffee that are not based on commodity exchange rates.
The larger the roastery, the more raw coffee it purchases. This also indirectly means dealing with a larger number of production and trading partners. While this does increase the effort involved – it 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 their coffee being produced responsibly.
The Corporate Responsibility Initiative is a complementary impulse here that can help sharpen focus on risks on coffee farms. It provides a basis for targeted dialogue with trading partners. For the coffee industry and coffee trade, the CRI is a necessary wake-up call to pay closer attention to the sustainability of the value chain.
Such a designed trade relationship is an opportunity, not a risk. Given growing coffee consumption in new markets such as China and India and changing cultivation conditions due to climate change, the coffee industry faces a shortage of high-quality coffee in the next 15 years. Reliable, sustainable trade relationships based on shared responsibility secure roasteries' access to the increasingly scarce resource of coffee.
Philipp Schallberger and Benjamin Hohlmann
<2> SRF ARENA
