Our expanding database of specialty coffee contracts provides the foundation for a series of practical Data Briefs that explore how specialty coffee markets work. These regular data summaries illuminate factors that systematically influence prices for green specialty coffees.
Our first Data Brief shows how Fair Trade and Organic (FTO) certification influences the distribution of FOB prices for specialty coffees. It suggests that FTO certification has different effects on prices depending on where a coffee lands in the quality/quantity landscape.
In many cases, FTO certification offers critical pricing safeguards. Lower scoring specialty coffees sold in larger lot sizes clearly benefit from the insurance effect of FTO certification. In other cases, this insurance effect is less important. Higher scoring coffees sold in smaller lot sizes are less affected by mandated price minimums and tend to receive higher prices when they sell outside the FTO system.
We close this Data Brief with brief comments from four experienced coffee professionals.
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