Oxfam America Salutes Dunkin' Donuts Announcement of New Line of Fair Trade Espresso Beverages

Posted: 26 April 2003

BOSTON, MA (April 26,2003) - Oxfam America praised yesterday's announcement at the Specialty Coffee Association of America's (SCAA) convention that Dunkin' Donuts would make its forthcoming brand of espresso beverages, including cappuccino and latte, with 100% Fair Trade Certified coffee beans. Fair Trade is a marketing system that guarantees small coffee farmers a minimum price of $1.26 per pound of coffee. This bottom line price improves the coffee growers' product while enabling them to provide a better life for their children and communities as a whole.

"Oxfam welcomes the decision of Dunkin' Donuts and its more than 3,500 franchisees to join the burgeoning Fair Trade movement, setting a precedent that its competitors and colleagues in the coffee business should follow," stated Liam Brody, Coordinator of Oxfam America's Coffee Campaign. He added, "Dunkin' Donuts has realized that quality and equity go hand-in-hand and Oxfam salutes them."

Oxfam America President Raymond C. Offenheiser commented, "The decision to buy Fair Trade Certified coffee is making an important and tangible difference in people's lives. Together we can change the world one cup at a time."

In more than 50 countries around the world, 25 million coffee farmers and their families face deep poverty and misery due to a drastic fall in world coffee prices. The price paid to farmers has fallen by more than 50% over the past three years - a crash brought on by a worldwide oversupply of coffee that allows coffee corporations to buy beans at rock bottom prices. The average price is so low that revenues do not cover the costs of production for coffee growing communities in many of the countries where Oxfam works, such as Ethiopia, Vietnam and Mexico.

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