Retos para una sociedad intercultural del conocimiento

Important outlets for sustainable coffees are specialized retail stores, supermarkets, and the institutional market. Whereas 56 percent of all coffee is consumed at home and 44 percent outside the home, for fair trade coffees as much as 50 percent is consumed out of home (figure 14.6).

Most of this is consumed in institutions and work-places, which fair trade suppliers and promoters have targeted right from the start. Government institutions were among the first to convert to fair trade. For organic coffee the out of home consumption is much lower and stands at about 25 percent. However, this is precisely the channel that will experience the strongest growth of organic coffee according to our survey. Fair trade sales are expected to remain stable in out of home and mainstream retail, but to decline by 5 to 10 percent in the specialized retail channel.

54 _{There are only 2 very small cooperatives in the FLO producer register. The supply of organic Brazils is largely}

exported to the USA for premiums that are not affordable for European traders.

T he St at e of Sust ainable C offee T he St at e of Sust ainable C offeeT he St at e of Sust ainable C offee T he St at e of Sust ainable C offeeT he St at e of Sust ainable C offee

150 150 150 150 150

55 _{Sara Lee, the world’s third-largest coffee roaster, introduced some fair trade coffee in response to student petitions at}

universities like UCLA and Villanova where certified fair trade coffees are now served throughout the dining halls. (Oxfam Exchange. Spring 2002. Oxfam America. Boston. Page 13)

Major specialized retail stores in the Netherlands that sell sustainable coffee include Wereldwinkels

(World Shops) and fair trade shops; both of these are exclusively dedicated to fair trade products including coffee. Specialty organic food shops pioneered the trade in organic products and continue to be an important outlet for organic coffee. The Netherlands count a significant number of specialized coffee and tea stores, for example the modern style franchise chain of

Simon Levelt stores, offering both fair trade (Max Havelaar) and organic coffees.

Mainstream food retail in the Netherlands is mainly through supermarkets with about 50 organizations competing. Due to government restrictions there are very few hypermarkets, although this is expected to change. A few major groups with integrated buying and logistics management dominate the business. The leading food retail group in the Netherlands is Ahold that owns Albert Heijn and C1000 supermarket chains. Like the French Carrefour and the U.S. Wal-Mart, Ahold is a global player, whose foreign interests include supermarkets in the Americas, Asia and Europe. Its new sustainability initiative called Utz Kapeh (see Certification Section above for details) might be applied to increasing quantities of Ahold’s coffee purchases.

Laurus, the number two supermarket operator, owns Super de Boer, Konmar, and others. A number of smaller, independent supermarket chains have formed a purchasing consortium called Superunie in order to compete with the giants. Dirk van den Broek and the German Aldi

are the dominant players in the low-price segment of the market.

In 2001 the overall Dutch organic market increased by 30 percent as compared to the year

before, which is especially due to the increased availability of organic products in supermarkets and strong promotional campaigns. With the exception of operations that focus primarily on low price, each of the supermarket chains now offer a range of a few hundred organic products covering most product groups. In 2000, Albert Heijn started an important campaign to increase the sales of organic products, which gave a strong impetus to the organic market. In 2001, organic sales through supermarkets amounted to €150

million and for the first time surpassed specialized organic retail sales that totaled €145

million. Coffee has also followed this overall pattern and supermarkets are becoming a more important outlet in terms of volume. This increased retail distribution is helping organic products to increase their market shares. Organic fruit and vegetables have a 3 percent market share; while dairy has 2.5 percent; and bread 2.0 percent (Platform Biologica, 2002).

Although a number of large conventional companies like Ahold have begun to participate in the sustainable coffee market; the country’s major roaster has not. Douwe Egberts, the leading brand in the Netherlands and part of the multinational corporation Sara Lee DE, holding 70 percent of the market, has not entered the category. This could change as Sara Lee Corp. has responded to demand in other markets such as the U.S. where it has begun to supply fairly traded coffee to its institutional accounts.55 _Van Weely, a subsidiary of JTH Douqué, and Simon Levelt are the largest importers of sustainable coffees into the Netherlands. Van Weely is one of the very largest European importers in these categories. The Fair Trade Organisatie, the leading brand-owner in sustainable coffees, stopped buying directly from producing countries in 2001, and now buys its coffee from importers.

151 151151 151151