availability and accessibility of this food item?
Essay on The
Impact of Globalization on Coffee
Globalization has definitely
penetrated all aspects of life. It has numerous profound effects on economy,
politics, culture and various fields of businesses all over the world.
Globalization has affected all the lifetime choices of people everywhere. It
has also transformed the social relations, the production, communication,
practices and ideas. One of the major industry that had felt both he direct and
indirect impacts of globalization is that of the coffee industry. Since
the1970’s , the start of the changing global market, the face of coffee
industry had already gone a lot of transformations (Lewis, 2013).
The industry of the global coffee
had undergone big transformations over the past decades. The production of
coffee become a boom in a lot of countries as the consumption of coffee
products rose exponentially. The massive sales of the known coffee retail
outlets such as the Seattle’s Best and Starbucks over the last decades proved
the great demand of coffee all over the world (Frank, 2004). From Columbian coffee farmers to the American
coffee shop owners and Starbucks patriot that depends on the coffee industry,
we can now say that globalization truly affects all aspects of the coffee chain.
Coffee next to oil is now the second largest commodity as it is harvested in
more than 80 countries and consumed in all countries world-wide. There are more
than 20 million people who depend on coffee for their livelihood (Globalization
101,2009). Coffee thus is seen as very important to the world economy. The
cultivation, processing, transportation, trading and marketing of coffee
provided a lot of employment opportunities for millions of people all over the
world (International Coffee Organization).
The impacts of globalization on
coffee industry can be further seen in the changes it brought upon the prices,
production, corporate exploitation, quality and the environment. The impact on
the coffee prices are one of the major effects of globalization on the coffee
industry. The price of coffee started to peak during the late 1960’s and early
1970’s where it reached $3 per pound. Due to the increase of the globalization
of coffee though, the coffee prices dropped significantly. The decrease in the
coffee prices is because of the increased in the production of coffee. Together
with the increase in the coffee demand, there had also been overproduction in
coffee which made the prices to drop as low as 62 cents per pound in 2001.
Another effect of globalization in
coffee industry can be seen on the coffee production. The overproduction of
coffee because of the high demands of consumer both had negative and positive
effects on the third world countries. These third world countries struggle to
get their fair share in the market place that is why they try to be competitive
in coffee production. They want to produce more and more coffee because they
hope to earn big sales on the market place. But due to overproduction, the
large coffee surpluses sometimes had nowhere to go. When there is an a big
coffee surpluses, large retailers can take advantage and demand lower prices to
the third world country coffee producers. Globalization also brought about
corporate exploitation. Because of the increased demands in coffee, coffee
products were then packaged by the manufacturers in the corporate level in a
mass scale. Due to the mass production, the coffee industry had been dominated
by the corporations. Because of the dominion of the corporations in the coffee
industries, the coffee farmers and manufacturers in the third world countries
experienced an unfair trade. Corporations take advantage of these small scale
farmers and producers. Corporations receive most of the sales in coffee while
the small- scale farmers and producers receive very little amounts. The quality
is also affected as the coffee production increased over time. Because of the
desire for cheaper coffee, manufacturers resorted to producing low quality
coffee products. This low quality products triggered the demand of most people
for high quality coffee. Because of this desire, consumers went far from being
willing to pay very high prices just for a single cup of coffee (Lewis,2013).
Lastly the globalization of coffee brought environmental degradation. Since the
demand for coffee production is high, some of the ancient forests were cleared
because of the hopes that these can be potential fertile grounds where coffee
can be grown.
In
conclusion, globalization affects all the aspect of the coffee industry. The
demand for coffee made it such an important commodity today. Though the
globalization of coffee industry can be a source of livelihood for millions of
people, it can also bring negative effects such as exploitation among the third
world countries coffee farmers, excessive consumerism and environmental
degradation.
Sources:
Lewis, J. (2013). The Effects of Globalization on Coffee Companies. Retrieved July 13,2013 from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/effects-globalization-coffee-companies-37460.html
Frank, J. (2004). Coffee In The Times Of Globalisation. Retrieved July 13,2013 from
http://www.countercurrents.org/glo-frank050104.htm
International Coffee Organization. The Story Of Coffee. . Retrieved July 13,2013 from http://www.ico.org/coffee_story.asp
Globalization
101. Cup of Joe: Globalization and Coffee. Retrieved July 13,2013 from http://www.globalization101.org/cup-of-joe-globalization-and-coffee-2
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