Starbucks v. Ethiopia - Foreign Policy in Focus - Sept 16, 2008

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The following is a book excerpt from Kim Fellner's Wrestling With Starbucks (Rutgers University Press, 2008).

Ethiopia is blisteringly poor country, ranked at 170 out of 177 countries in the 2005 UN Development Program Human Development Report. More than 25% of its people survive on less than $1 a day; the average per-capita gross domestic product is less than $1,000. Although the country produces barely 6% of the world's coffee, more than 1.5 million smallholders grow the crop, which sustains 15 million people and accounts for 40 to 60% of the country's total exports. A significant percentage of the crop (estimates vary widely, depending on whom you ask, from a low of 15% to a high of 45%) is specialty coffee from the Harar, Sidamo, and Yirgacheffe regions, all prized for their quality and unique flavor. Read More.