What is the Real Cost of Our Coffee? 什么是一杯咖啡的真正价值？
As I set up my laptop to write this article, the next thing I did was to open the Starbucks mini-program and look for a coffee that, I supposed, would help me to get out of the Sunday afternoon laziness and hopefully, get productive.
星期天，当我打开笔记本电脑开始写这篇文章的时候，我马上划开微信上的星巴克小程序，寻找一杯能让我清醒的咖啡，好像没有咖啡的午后，工作就没有效率。
Coffee drinking seems to have become an essential part of modern Chinese life in most cities in China. The biggest beneficiaries of this rapidly growing trend are Starbucks, and China’s homegrown ‘unicorn’ and the closest competitor to the former, Luckin Coffee.
对于像我一样的都市青年，喝咖啡似乎成为了生活中的常态。在这样一批消费者崛起的背景下，像星巴克这样的国际玩家早早看稳了商机；当然，这么大的蛋糕，谁都想尝一口。上个月被爆出财报造假丑闻的瑞幸咖啡，仍然在筹备开新店。
Luckin is reported to continue opening new stores while burning its investors’ money, despite financial misconduct that saw suspension of its CEO and COO last month.
“China consumes nine times as much tea as coffee, but Qian (Luckin CEO) saw that statistic as an opportunity. Luckin promised low-priced coffee, ubiquitous store locations, and delivery to your home in 30 minutes,” according to another article that analysed Luckin’s fall.
“中国茶叶的市场体量是咖啡的9倍，但钱治亚（瑞幸咖啡前CEO）认为这恰恰说明市场潜力巨大。瑞幸的玩法是低价，密集，便利，30分钟以内把咖啡送到你手中”，一篇关于瑞幸咖啡的报道这样评论到。
According to a Statista report, Starbucks currently operates 4,123 stores in China, making it the country with the most stores worldwide, after the United States. However, what might be even more staggering to read is Starbucks’ China strategy: a new store every 15 hours!
Statista的研究数据指出，中国已经成为星巴克全球运营门店数量第二大的国家，仅次于主场美国，截止到2019年9月，星巴克在华自营门店已达4123家。2018年的一份报道指出，星巴克曾放言未来5年每15个小时会在华开一家新店。
While international companies make their ambitious move into the dragon country, homegrown brands, although a bit late, are joining the fight. There are very few commodities that have been manipulated as much as coffee.
然而，在这个好戏连台，群雄逐鹿，各种营销手段层出不穷的市场上，我们看到，咖啡 ，一个具有民生物资意味的商品，它的市场价值已面目全非。
But how much do we know about the global supply network that the cup of coffee in our hand is based on? I wondered how unregulated the market might and continued my research.
作为消费者的我们，对手中这杯咖啡背后的全球产业链有多少了解？带着这个问题，我继续搜索着与这个话题有关的信息。
The ‘Coffee Economy’ and the global supply network of coffee
咖啡经济和咖啡全球产业链
According to Business Insider, coffee is the second most sought-after commodity in the world, with an industry that is worth over $100 billion across the globe. In terms of exporting alone, the industry is valued at $20 billion and continues to be on the rise.
据Business Insider报道，咖啡是全球第二大贸易品，全球市场价值在1000亿美元以上。单单咖啡出口贸易，已经是一个价值200亿美元的生意，并且，这个市场因为新兴消费市场的崛起而不断增长。
The most prominent companies within the coffee market include: J.M. Smucker Company, Kraft Heinz Inc., Starbucks Corporation, Nestle S.A., and Dunkin’ Donuts. Still, the price of coffee fluctuates dramatically. Weather is often a factor, as a forecast of droughts or frosts in Brazil might also forecast a coffee shortage, thus increasing the price.
这个市场上的巨头玩家包括JM斯马克，卡夫亨氏，星巴克，雀巢，唐恩都乐。然而， 咖啡的市场价格并未因巨头的存在而趋稳，相反，这个全球第二大贸易品的价格波动很大。毕竟，咖啡的本质是农产品，天气是影响咖啡价格的重要因素之一。巴西天气偏干，或者有霜降，市场会马上嗅到产量紧张的信号，咖啡价格看涨。
Most coffee is traded by speculators in New York City, who trade up to ten times the amount of coffee that is actually produced each year. Ten times! Little wonder that the British Coffee Association said that “for an average cup of coffee consumed in the UK, up to 76% of its value is estimated to be produced in the UK.”
纽约是咖啡期货的重要交易地，这里的投机者有时会把价格炒到实际年产价值的10倍。是的，10倍。难怪在英国咖啡协会的主页上写着：在英国消费的每一杯咖啡，其76%的增值发生在英国本土。
Because surely, coffee beans don’t grow in England. How about the rest 24 percent?
虽然，我们都知道，英国不产咖啡豆。那么24%的剩余价值在哪里？
The ‘behind-the-scenes’ of coffee farming and its link to poverty
你不知道的咖农的贫困生活
Coffee, as we can imagine, is based on the agriculture.
正如前文提到的，世界咖啡经济的根基是农业。
Over 90 percent of coffee production takes place in developing countries – mostly South America, while consumption primarily happens in the industrialized economies. Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Colombia and Ethiopia are the top 5 green coffee producers in the world.
90%的咖啡产自以南美为主的发展中国家，但主要的消费市场在工业国家。全球前5个咖啡生产国是巴西，越南，印度尼西亚，哥伦比亚和埃塞俄比亚。
Among that, 60% of coffee production comes from smallholder coffee farmers with less than 5 hectares. Almost half of these smallholder farmers can be found in Ethiopia, Uganda and Indonesia.
全球60%的咖啡来自生产规模在5公顷以下的小咖农，而超过一半的小咖农分布在埃塞俄比亚，乌干达以及印度尼西亚这三个国家。
These smallholder farmers rely heavily on coffee as a source of income but have little bargaining power in terms of selling price. Since the fall of International Coffee Agreement in 1989, the coffee price fell to about half their previous levels and hasn’t really recovered till the early 21st century when the documentary Black Gold was made.
对于世界上大部分的小咖农，种植咖啡豆是他们唯一的经济来源，但是因为生产规模小，他们对咖啡豆的收购价几乎没有任何影响力。1989年，致力于维护世界咖啡经济透明度和公平性的《国际咖啡协定》基本瓦解后，咖啡豆的收购价几乎拦腰斩，并且一跌不起，直到21世纪初，纪录片《黑金》的镜头记录下埃塞俄比亚咖农的困境时，咖啡豆收购价一直徘徊在低位。
A statistic from Enveritas shows that 44% of the world’s smallholder coffee farmers are living in poverty and 22% are living in extreme poverty. The majority of coffee farmers living in poverty are concentrated in six East African countries. The region is characterized by low coffee yields that result in low income to these farmers.
Enveritas研究数据表明，世界上44%的小咖农挣扎在贫困线以下，其中22%的人极度贫困。这些生活在贫困中的咖农在地理上集中分布在6个东非国家。这个地区的农业生产效率低，以至于农民的收入水平也长期低迷。
Facts are hard digest. 30% of farmers earn less than $100 per year from coffee production. While we urbanites enjoy the perceived productivity that a 20RMB cup of coffee brings, each day there are coffee farmers in Ethiopia who have to abandon their fields and look for other ways to provide for their families.
30%的咖农年收入不足100美元，事实比我们想象的更加残酷。当我们这些城里人享受手中的咖啡带来的灵感与思绪时，在埃塞俄比亚，每天都有咖农不得不放弃土地，寻找别的生计来养家糊口。
Change can start with awareness. With us, consumers.
理智消费，改变从我做起
Green Initiatives is screening the documentary, Black Gold, to limited seats on Thursday, 21 May 2020, to increase awareness and change on this issue.
本周四，5月21日，绿色倡议将会上映这部纪录片《黑金》，我们希望以此提高消费者的意识，改变消费行为。
In the film, Tadesse Meskela, who grew up in the countryside outside Addis Ababa in a poor family, is determined to find a way out of poverty, for over 74,000 coffee farmers. He looks for coffee buyers around the globe who will pay his farmers a better price than that set by the international commodities exchange.
这部纪录片以人物Tadesse Meskela为主线。他成长于埃塞俄比亚首都亚的斯亚贝巴的郊区一个贫穷的家庭，对他来说，他一生的使命是帮助7万4千个咖农脱贫，在全世界寻找愿意以对生产者公平的价格收购咖啡豆的买家。
Tadesse hopes that “one day the consumer will understand what they are drinking. Consumers can bring a change if awareness is given to them”.
Tadesse希望有一天，消费者能够懂得他们手中的咖啡的真正价值，“只有消费者改变他们的行为，现有的不公平的经济结构才会改变”。
Although the film was made 14 years ago, we think that bringing out the story of Ethiopia’s coffee farmers to the community is extremely important. As coffee consumption continues to soar, increased awareness will allow for better purchase decisions. Knowing where our coffee comes from, as well as, labels and certifications will be extremely important.
虽然这部纪录片拍摄于14年前，我们认为将埃塞俄比亚咖农的困境与斗争再一次展示出来具有现实意义。作为消费者的我们，理性消费，要求对商品的产地，生产链以及资质的知情权，有助于帮助这些咖农争取更公平的收购价格。
After all, like Tadesse himself mentions in the film; this is not just an issue that affects coffee but all the products coming from the poorest of countries.
毕竟，就像Tadesse在影片中提到的，这个问题影响的不仅仅是咖啡，还有所有产自贫困国家的产品。
After all, the free coffee promotion may be happening right now. Let us not assume that zero is the real price of that cup of coffee.
当免费咖啡大行其道时，不要忘记，免费并不是咖啡的真正价值。
To view the references quoted in the article, click “read more” below to visit the webpage. 如果您要查看文中引用的资料，请点击“阅读原文”以查看网页版本。
To register for the film screening scan the QR code below. Very limited spaces. 如果您要参与活动，请扫描下方二维码。名额有限。
References:
https://www.nanjingmarketinggroup.com/blog/luckin-coffee-madness-marketing-strategy
https://carto.com/blog/enveritas-coffee-poverty-visualization/
https://www.britishcoffeeassociation.org/coffee-in-the-uk/coffee-facts
https://thecolgatemaroonnews.com/23640/commentary/luckin-coffee-runs-out-of-luck/
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/05/17/723193259/what-does-chinas-luckin-coffee-have-that-starbucks-doesnt
https://globaledge.msu.edu/blog/postamp/55607/the-global-coffee-industry
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