BBC News | BUSINESS | Coffee farmers 'face destitution' (#)

  „Oxfam says farmers are losing out Meanwhile, the charity says, big multinational food companies, cafe and restaurant chains in rich nations have gained enormously from the drop in prices. The value of raw coffee beans has fallen sharply in the last three years due to overproduction, but prices paid for the processed product in consuming nations have remained much the same. Minimum wage Oxfam says the price of raw coffee exported from producer countries accounts for less than 7% of the eventual cost of coffee to Western consumers - the rest, over 90%, goes to coffee processors and retailers in rich countries. Oxfam cites increased profits at Nestle, the giant Swiss instant coffee processor, and the fashionable American coffee shop chain Starbucks as evidence of its case.“

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1333000/ 1333204.stm - Cached

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BBC News | MEDIA REPORTS | China internet cafe debate hots up

  „Up to 15% of children in China's larger cities use internet cafes China announced two weeks ago that no new internet cafes would be approved for three months while the authorities re-registered existing cafes and carried out large-scale checks on their activities. As part of the crackdown, the authorities in Anshan in the north-east province of Liaoning installed "information purifiers" in more than a third of the city's 240 internet cafes - software denying users access to pornographic web sites. Meanwhile, in Shanghai, companies specialising in information are being encouraged to enter the internet cafe market so as "to weaken the function of internet cafes as entertainment". In a debate published on the Beijing Review's website, Communist Party officials warn of the dangers of "online heroin", saying access to pornographic sites and "illegal games" in internet cafes pose a threat to the country's younger generation.“

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/monitoring/media_reports/.../ 1302309.stm - Cached

BBC - Music Live - Events 23 April 2004

  „To find a cappuccino. After being turned away from one cafe that shut at 4, another that was open, but they'd shut the cappuccino machine down, and walking past various other cafes with chairs on tables, I managed to find one. £2.25 for a large cappuccino. Safe at last.“

http://www.bbc.co.uk/musiclive/eventsdiary/ event26april.shtml - Cached

BBC NEWS | Business | Oxfam launches 'Coffee Rescue' plan

  „The campaign comes a week before the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) is due to meet and discuss ways to solve the crisis. Big four drinkers Oxfam is attacking what it calls the "big four" coffee companies - Kraft, Sara Lee, Procter & Gamble and Nestle - which it says buy nearly half the world's coffee crop between them.“

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2264727.stm - Cached

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Oxfam warns of tsunami cash delay

  „ Oxfam “

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/ 4180105.stm - Cached

BBC News | BUSINESS | Quality focus boosts coffee growers

  „"We hope to improve the quality of the coffee," said Eriberto Arias, a Colombian technical adviser with the Cafe Mojsa project. "The intention is to sell into the speciality coffee market which offers much better prices." The market for speciality coffee has been growing in recent years providing a profitable alternative to the cut-throat commercial market for those with something special to offer. Something special A three year pilot for the Cafe Mojsa project has given a clear indication that coffee from the Bolivian Yungas region has the potential to please the palate, and conscience, of the world's more discerning consumers. Arabica coffee beans gain better prices A combination of altitude, soil and a well-timed rainy season mean the high quality Arabica coffee beans grown in the Yungas are unusually large and have a greater concentration of sugars.“

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1937731.stm - Cached

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