February 10, 2009 - During the 2007/2008 coffee year 4.5 million coffee bags (60kg) of green coffee complying with the 4C criteria were verified in 21 countries. During its launch in 2007, the 4C Association stated to only verify ‘virgin’ coffee, which is coffee that has not been verified or certified by any other production standard in the coffee market. The figures presented by 4C make no reference to this initial distinction, creating confusion about the existing overlap with other initiatives.
Although the broad support and commitment of the various stakeholders organised in the 4C Association is promising, only a fraction of the available verified 4C coffee has actually been purchased by its members. About 10% of the total volume, or 475,000 bags of 4C coffee have been purchased as 4C coffee in 2007/2008. This amount shows little individual commitment of large coffee roasters involved in 4C, like Kraft, Nestlé and Sara Lee. These companies should seriously invest and purchase large volumes of 4C verified coffee, to promote the acceptance of this minimal social and environmental decency standard at the production side of the coffee value chain.
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