ETHIOPIA: East African coffee conference opens as Ethiopia pursues recognition for its speciality coffees from multinational Starbucks

A regional coffee conference has opened with Ethiopia demanding more recognition from multinationals such as Starbucks of its branded coffees Ethiopia sought support on Thursday (February 15) in securing the protection rights for various crops and plants in its trademark row with Starbucks . Ethiopia says securing these rights could lift millions from poverty. Ethiopia and the British charity Oxfam have accused the U.S.-based coffee shop giant of blocking Ethiopia's attempts to trademark its beans, denying farmers there potential income of more than 90 million U.S. dollars (USD). Dub Hay, Starbucks' senior vice president for coffee and global procurement, said the company was engaging the Ethiopian government on the trademark dispute and pledged to continue helping African farmers improve the quality of their produce. "As we speak with the coffee industry, we learn more about your needs and your desires. We are committed to respectfully engaging the Ethiopian Government, and to help build and grow the East Africa coffee industry," Hay told a speciality coffee meeting of the Eastern African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA) in Ethiopia. "We are in this together, if you continue to grow high quality coffees, we can continue to showcase those coffees to the rest of the world," Hay added. The dispute escalated on Thursday when Ethiopia said it could ban the U.S. firm from purchasing its prized coffee beans. "Recognising that the brand, appreciating that contributions and recognising the farmers' interests and also appreciating the farmers' interests, then Starbucks can go for promoting, roasting, processing - deliver to the consumers, to the supermarket, is appreciated," Ethiopia's State minister for agriculture, Yacob Yalla, told reporters. "But he has to recognise this is Ethiopian coffee, Ethiopian brand. Also they should popularise Ethiopian coffee and Ethiopian Brand, that is what we demand from Starbucks," added Yalla. Starbucks officials have said they are concerned with some specific provisions that Ethiopia was seeking, but that they were willing to discuss the matter. To appease critics, the company also listed six new incentives to boost east Africa's coffee industry. It said it would double coffee purchases from the region, support education projects, increase credit to farmers by one million USD on top of nine million USD already advanced and expand the range of local products that it imports. Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Minister Seyoum Mesfin who opened the Coffee conference said he was confident that an amicable agreement would be reached. "We trust, we are confident, that Starbucks and other roasters and distributors to the consumers will give us a strong support, particularly to the producers," said Mesfin. Although the row has dominated proceedings at the conference in Ethiopia -- which some say is coffee's birthplace -- delegates are also discussing ways to improve an industry which seems to be recovering after many years of decline due to poor prices. Despite improving prices, peasant farmers still struggle to survive. A quarter of Ethiopia's nearly 80 million people depend on coffee, which is also the leading export earner for the poor Horn of Africa nation.

ITN Source | February 16, 2007

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