Less than half of fair trade coffee is sold at fair trade prices.

I was reading a long and interesting article in the Washington Post about the impact Wal-Mart is having on the fair trade coffee movement.

Then I came across this passage:

“For most fair-trade farmers, finding a willing buyer is the most difficult part of the process. About 35 to 45 percent of fair-trade-certified coffee is actually sold at fair-trade prices, according to TransFair USA. The rest goes for market value, undistinguishable from regular coffee.”

Did you know that? I didn’t. Perhaps it was naive of me to think that every pound of fair trade coffee grown would be purchased at a fair trade price.

If the figures are that bad, then there is a strong argument for supporting mass buyers like Wal-Mart.

But then again, if coffee farm coops become suppliers to Wal-Mart, they will run all the same risks that every other Wal-Mart supplier faces.

In other words, if you build your entire business and community based on a relationship with one company the size of Wal-Mart...what happens when Wal-Mart changes its mind?

It may be easy for me to say, in my comfy Western home, but my gut tells me that fair trade coffer growers should explore every other possible avenue before getting into bed with a partner like Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart’s financial self interest will always come first, and its commitment to ethical trading will be lucky to come second.