Tsunami Appeal

This newsletter consists of two excerpts from Forestrade, a Fairtrade Organic Coffee Plantation in Sumatra.

…Many of you, our customers, have called and expressed your concern for the people who have been devastated by the 9.0 earthquake centered around Aceh, Sumatra Indonesia and the subsequent tsunami that has taken so many lives and destroyed so much property in its wake.

We are all offering our prayers and support for these people, but many of you have taken these people into your hearts and are searching for ways to directly help the coffee growers that are responsible for the coffees that you roast. We therefore, wanted to give you a more direct update on the known situation of the growers of the PPKGO Cooperative whom supplies our coffee.

The latest message, as of Dec. 30^th was that two of the producers and their families were killed in the collapse of their homes in one of the 32 communities participating in the coffee project. This community is in one of the most accessible areas, and there is great concern that further reports from other communities will add to the toll.

Additionally we know that many of the farmers send their children to secondary schools and colleges in the lowland areas, primarily the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, one of the areas of highest casualties. The local director, Mr. Muhammad Salim, had three daughters in College in Banda, Aceh. He and several of his PPKGO neighbors left with a convoy of vehicles from Takengon to Banda, Aceh. We have heard they found his daughters in a temporary shelter, the school they attended was destroyed, additionally we have heard that 13 children of the other growers are listed as missing and have not been found.

There has been much damage to the mill where the coffee is processed; some building walls have collapsed. The largest warehouse was miraculously left intact, so it is currently filled with those who are now homeless in that community. There has been some food and clothing received by these earthquake victims. The roads in to these coffee communities are in ruins, making it impossible at this time to get coffee out of the area or get help in.

These Acehenese people who have supplied our wonderful Takengon coffee now are desperate for our support. Funds are needed first for emergency relief services to the coffee-producing communities in Central Aceh, and secondly to help rebuild the mills and roads so they can harvest, mill, and export their coffee to eventually be able to rebuild their lives.

In addition to the devastation that has directly impacted our growers in Sumatra, a few weeks prior to this event, the internal prices of Sumatra coffees had risen to nearly four times it’s usual differential. Along with this phenomena the NY ‘C’ market has surged nearly 35 points. Consequently, these two price moves, the NY ‘C’ and the origin differential, have caused the price of the coffee to surpass the fair trade organic price minimum. The increased differential was created internally by a mounting number of defaults and rejection of shipments at the end of the last coffee harvest. This situation then created a backlog of demand by Medan exporters. These exporters expected a large supply coming in with continued low prices in November and December, so they made an excessive number of new contracts on a speculative basis. In the mean time, a largely unnoticed drop of flowers during the major pre-harvest formation period, last April-May, had significantly reduced this anticipated supply.

Due to the Ramadhan in November, and businesses in Sumatra being closed for the holiday, coffee shipments did not move. Essentially at this point with all of these problems mounting in Sumatra, there is a great deal of price pressure on any available Sumatra Coffees. With the current conditions that now exist, it is questionable when there will be any stable supply of these coffees at all. We are also unsure at this time, where or if the last shipment that was to have shipped just prior to the earthquake is. Additionally, all future contracted shipments are in question at this point because of the disaster.

We understand that the Sumatra Takengon coffee is an important coffee for our roasters, and we are doing all that we can to preserve supplies, but we need for everyone to understand the problem and begin to take precautions with the supplies that currently may be in your inventories. While we understand there is simply no replacement for Sumatra, we believe that your customers will understand that they are only having to temporarily lose their favorite coffee, but the Sumatra growers have lost so much more than any of us can begin to imagine.

Forestrade thanks you for your message of concern for the Forestrade partners in Indonesia.

…We have report this morning that two farmers in Bintang Bener died because their houses were damaged. Donations received will be used to repair houses and mosques if possible but food is their immediate need.

Parts of the Trimaju central wet processing plant have been damaged, and there has been extensive damage to the houses and personal effects of the farmers. Our director Lucia Lie Sembiring tells us that the large warehouse which is still intact is now being used to shelter those who lost their homes in surrounding communities. PPKGO is providing food and clothing for those in need. The Aceh Sustainable Coffee Project is located 3 hours inland in the highlands, and was spared from the much more severe effects in the lowlands. However, the road between Takengon and Medan where the shipments go through appears to be heavily damaged and perhaps blocked for an indeterminate period of time. We are also hearing that this tragedy may actually have a positive dimension to it. The event appears to be generating a wave of support for the victims in Aceh from other parts of Indonesia, transcending the divisive conflict that has pervaded over the last several years. We are hopeful that this may create a new opening for peace and reconciliation in the region.

NORTHERN TEA MERCHANTS WILL DONATE 50P TO THE TSUNAMI DISASTER APPEAL FOR EVERY PACKET OF 80 GOLDEN DE LUXE TEA BAGS PURCHASED FROM OUR WEB SITE THROUGHOUT 2005