Fair Trade: Is It Fair Enough?

Coffee Cherries Picking

How much should your coffee cost?

A question we hear a lot here at The Mexican Coffee Company is in reference to our prices. Talking about money isn’t always a comfortable topic, especially at the moment when the cost of living is so high. We don’t shy away from the fact that our coffee is retailed at a high price point, nor do/can we ignore the £4 bags of coffee on the supermarket shelves. Some of those coffee bags even bear the Fair Trade logo, which is understandably important for many people. We get asked about that a lot, too.

One of our most fundamental principles is that the farmers who grow our coffee should be compensated fairly. They are working hard to provide a product of a superior quality, and we of course want to ensure that they can continue to fund their own projects, make a good living, and support their own communities. Each of our coffee bags has the tag line, “better pay for farmers, better quality for you.” They don’t have a Fair Trade logo. For us, and for them, the price labelled as “Fair Trade” isn’t good enough.

How much is “Fair Trade”?

According to the official Fair Trade organisation, the price for Fair Trade Arabica coffee is $1.80 (£1.34) per pound (0.45kg). For Robusta coffee beans, it’s $1.20 (89p.) Based on those prices, a 250g bag of Arabica coffee only needs to cost 74p to be classified as Fair Trade.

We simply don’t agree with those prices. We don’t think those numbers can fully support the cost of running a coffee farm, paying the workers, processing and packaging the coffee and sending it out to where it will be sold, especially for smaller, independently-run farms, such as family businesses. That’s why we trust the fincas that we work with, who are the experts in producing demonstrably high quality, award-winning coffee, and we pay them the price that they ask us for. It’s much more than 74p per bag. We think that’s fair.

Why don’t The Mexican Coffee Company bags have a Fair Trade logo?

Whether you are a regular customer of ours or you would only consider buying our coffee as a special treat, we want to assure you that even though our bags do not carry the Fair Trade logo, we are passionate about supporting Mexican coffee producers in a meaningful way, and that is reflected in our prices. 

For products to display the Fair Trade logo, both companies and farmers have to pay a pricey licensing fee. Separately. We think having the logo on our coffee bags would essentially serve as a marketing tool for us rather than benefitting the farmers themselves. We’re also a little bit iffy about what Fair Trade pricing means for the coffee industry as a whole; therefore, rather than paying for the logo, we’d rather spend money in a way that directly supports the farmers that we work with. 

Our pricing, and our farmers’ pricing, also insures them against an unstable global market value. Coffee prices globally have increased for a variety of reasons, principally Brazil (the world’s most prominent coffee producer) facing challenges such as drought, disease and pests. This has led to a rise in demand for coffee, which pushes prices higher. Conversely, we have not had to increase the prices at which we retail, since the price we pay is already sustainable.

We’d love to hear your opinions about this topic - get in touch via the Contact page, or any of our social media channels. You can also sign up for our newsletter to get updates about our projects.