Sales of fair trade coffee perk up

Dave and Sonja Strutz get a nice buzz from their morning coffee, and it's not just from the caffeine. The St. Cloud couple drink only fair trade coffee, which they order in bulk from an East Coast supplier.

"The coffee itself is great, and the fact that we're helping to sustain some small farmers of Central America or Africa only adds to the flavor," Dave Strutz wrote in an e-mail. "Everyone wins, except the huge agribusinesses, which often provide less than subsistence living for these folks."

Fair trade coffee -- now available largely in food co-ops and specialty stores -- soon will be more accessible to the average grocery shopper.

Consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble announced this week that Millstone, its upscale coffee brand, will offer a fair trade selection.

Glen Stubbe Star Tribune A load of fair-trade organic Guatemalan Dark roast cools in after coming out of the roaster at Peace Coffee in Minneapolis.

Fair trade coffee comes from companies that buy their beans from grower-owned cooperatives and pay a guaranteed minimum price to the growers. That price, now $1.26 a pound, can be several times the world market price, which has ranged in recent months between 30 cents and 70 cents a pound.

Fair trade coffee is only a small part of the overall retail coffee business, accounting for about $100 million of the $19 billion U.S. coffee market.

Glen Stubbe   Star Tribune Anna Canning scoops uncooked coffee beans headed for the roaster at Peace Coffee.

But it's growing rapidly; the volume of fair trade coffee is expected to be about 12 million pounds this year, up from 2 million pounds in 1999, according to TransFair USA, the group that certifies fair trade beans.

"The growth has been fantastic," said Scott Patterson, director of Peace Coffee Co., a Minneapolis firm that sells fair trade coffee to food co-ops, cafes, colleges and institutions.

Peace Coffee will post more than $1 million in sales this year, Patterson said. The company's business doubled every year from 1997, when it opened, to 2001. Last year business was up nearly 50 percent, and Patterson said he expects similar results this year.

Still, fair trade coffee output is puny compared with the volume of a company like Starbucks, which goes through about 5 million pounds of coffee a day.

Starbucks sells fair trade coffee in bulk but sells it by the cup only one day a month -- because there's not enough fair trade coffee produced in the world to keep Starbucks supplied on a daily basis, a company spokeswoman said.

"The list of fair trade coffees that are available is not very big in comparison to the list of specialty coffees," said Brian Munro , vice president and manager of Coffee & Tea by Lee in Minneapolis' Linden Hills neighborhood. But as word spreads, he added, consumer demand builds.

"It seems that the people who buy fair trade typically buy fair trade only," Munro said. "Once they start doing it, they usually continue."

Fair trade coffee often costs more than regular beans -- as much as $2 a pound more. But a growing number of consumers are willing to put their money where their beliefs are, said Maggie Shea, a partner in Red Consulting, a Minneapolis marketing strategy firm.

"We're seeing a lot of consumers understanding their buying power, really putting their dollars to work," Shea said. Other examples of the trend include organic food and environmentally friendly products such as hybrid gas-electric cars.

"We're also seeing this idea of a new luxury," Shea said. "They're looking for something a little different, a little special: 'I drink this because I'm a little special and I'm doing something for myself.' "

John Reinan is atjreinan@startribune.com .

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