Vol. 557 No. 2
87 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the consideration the Government and the EU have given to the coffee crisis affecting 25 million producers across the developing world as detailed by Oxfam Ireland. [21542/02]
113 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if Ireland will use its position on the Security Council of the United Nations to propose or support the calling of a special UN conference on the current coffee crisis affecting 25 million producers in a number of developing countries; if his attention has been drawn to the consequences of increasing margins between origin, price and retail price for countries such as Uganda, one of Ireland's special bilateral aid countries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21430/02]
183 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if Ireland will use its position on the Security Council of the United Nations to propose or support the calling of a special UN conference on the current coffee crisis, affecting 25 million producers in a number of developing countries; if his attention has been drawn to the consequences of increasing margins between origin price and retail price for countries such as Uganda, one of Ireland's special bilateral aid countries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21429/02]
I propose to take Question Nos. 87, 113 and 183 together.
While the Security Council has specific responsibilities in relation to the maintenance of international peace and security, it does not have primary responsibility within the UN system for dealing with economic and social issues such as the impact on developing countries of volatile commodity prices.
The recently-published OXFAM report, Mugged: Poverty in Your Coffee Cup, performs the important service of drawing attention to the fact that the livelihoods of 25 million coffee producers are affected by the fall in the price of coffee. There are indications that long-term prospects are grim and that developing country farmers, mostly poor smallholders, are now selling their coffee beans for much less than they cost to produce.
I have noted the recommendations in the OXFAM report that the UN Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, develop a long-term integrated strategy to tackle the problem of commodities and to organise a major international conference on coffee with the International Coffee Organisation by February-March 2003.
The economies of some of the poorest countries in the world are highly dependent on trade in coffee. In Uganda, the livelihoods of roughly one-quarter of the population are in some way dependent on coffee sales. According to World Bank figures, in 2000 Ugandan coffee exports amounted to 43% of total exports.
There is almost no coffee processing in Uganda so the export price depends on the demand from the major coffee processors. There are four main global coffee roasters which determine the market price for the non-processed crop. The price farmers in Uganda currently receive is US$200 per tonne compared to US$ 3,000 per tonne in 1994. The fall in the price of coffee is almost entirely due to a glut on the world market due to the entry of new producing countries, such as Vietnam.
