Coffee drying in parchment. Daily Coffee News file photo.
The concept of financial transparency in the coffee industry may have been unimaginable a generation ago, but it has evolved quickly both in professional discourse and in marketing.
In broad terms, the transparency movement originated when some coffee importers started more widely sharing free-on-board (FOB) prices with roasters who were concerned about prices paid to producers in their own supply chains. Then, roasters came to the realization that those prices were not necessarily matching up with the actual prices paid to farmers.
The practice of “direct trade” became one way for roasters to take more control over this information, although the practice when done faithfully can be difficult and costly, and may also favor larger “estates” over more vulnerable producers.