Introduction to
Arabica Coffee Roasters’ 
Fair Trade and Organic Coffees
 
 
 
Arabica Roasters tries to conserve paper whenever possible, so we print of both side if necessary.  Please consider the environment before printing this document.  

Arabica Coffee Roasters
www.arabicaroasters.com
 
31 July 2018 
 
Dear ABC,
 
This letter is an introduction to what our relationship is with the Fair Trade organizations in the world (there are more than one).  It will also allow us the opportunity to opportunity to introduce you to our Fair Trade and organic products. 
 
 
“Fair Trade”
We are registered members of two Fair Trade organizations at this time. 
l   The Fair Trade Labelling Organization (“FLO”), which is based in Europe, and
l   Fair Trade USA (“FT USA”), which is based in the United States. 
l   If you are interested in checking our Fair Trade status online, you may do so:
n   FLO: Through the operator search function, http://www.flo-cert.net/flo-cert/113.html.
u  Product: Coffee; Type: Arabica; Region: China
u  Our FLO ID is: 19017. 
n   Fair Trade USA: www.fairtradeusa.org.  
n   Our FT USA ID is: 1034576. 
u  Note: FT USA may not yet offer this service online. 
l   At this time, to our knowledge, we are the only certified roaster of FLO Fair Trade coffees in China. We were the first certified FT USA roaster, but are not sure that we still are.  The certification process for FLO is more stringent than FT USA. 
l   For the time being, we can use either of the Fair Trade labels (below) on our packaging. 
l   Regarding the use of Fair Trade logos for our customers:
n   FLO expects that everyone in the “supply chain” who wants to use their logo to be registered with them. If you want to use their logo on your own materials, we recommend that your team check their rules on this and/or contact them to confirm how to do so.
n   FT USA has a different set of rules on this subject.  You can check those out on their website for their details. 
 

 
 
International Fair Trade organizations

Fair Trade Labelling Organization (“FLO”) Based Out of Born Germany	Fair Trade USA Based in the United States
Mission: To connect disadvantaged producers and consumers, promote fairer trading conditions and empower producers to combat poverty, strengthen their position and take more control over their lives.	Mission: Fair Trade USA enables sustainable development and community empowerment by cultivating a more equitable global trade model that benefits farmers, workers, consumers, industry and the earth.
Website: www.flo-cert.net Arabica Roasters FLO ID #: 19017	Website: www.fairtradeusa.org Arabica Roasters FT USA ID #: 1034576

 
Each of these organizations has a slightly nuanced take on what Fair Trade means and what their organizational priorities are.  At the end of the day, they are essentially working towards the same goals, which can be boiled down to the following:
 
l   Fairer working conditions and prices for farmers, no child labor.
l   Promote sustainable social and economic and environmental development.
l   Promote organic growing methods for the health of farmers, the environment, and consumers.
 
 
“Organic”
All Fair Trade green beans that we purchase are also certified organic outside of China, mostly by Ecocert and the USDA.  However, due to strict Chinese packaging laws, and China’s new rules on what products can be called “Certified Organic”, we do not advertise that these are organic products on our packaging.  We have removed the word organic in both English and Chinese from our packaging.  In the near future, for these Fair Trade and organic coffees (“FTO”), we will use a green base on the labels, but will not print the word organic. 
 
As you look at how to market organic products in your venues, you should also be aware of these issues. 
 

 
 
Organic certification organizations—only the Chinese logo is recognized in China

ECOCERT Based out of France	USDA United States Department of Agriculture	China Organic Food Certification Center (COFCC)
Website: www.ecocert.com	Website: www.usda.gov	Website: www.greenfood.org.cn/sites/ofcc

 
Because for the time being, we can not advertise our Ecocert & USDA certified coffees as organic, we will probably say something to the effect of “these beans are certified organic outside of China, but are not certified organic inside of China”, or something to that effect, on the back of the packaging. 
 
That being said, we are in the process of getting our factory certified organic for one particular Chinese-grown coffee.  Once we have this certification (we’ve been working on this project for almost 7 years – it is harder to do than it sounds), we will be able to use the Chinese organic logo on packages of this type of coffee.  As per the newest requirements of the Chinese government, not only must the growers of the coffee beans be registered and certified “Organic”, but the roasters as well. 
 
Once our product is certified organic, we should be allowed to market it as such.  However, if you choose to use this coffee, we highly recommend that you first check with the business authorities before you put the Chinese certified organic logo on any of your materials. 
 
 
Summary of Fair Trade & Organic:
To summarize the above information:
 
l   All Fair Trade coffees sourced by Arabica Roasters have also been certified as 100% organic by overseas organizations, namely Ecocert and/or USDA, but due to strict Chinese regulations, we can only print fair trade on the bags—we cannot print that they are organic. 
l   Once our factory has received organic certification, we still cannot call these Fair Trade certified coffees organic until the original producers have been inspected and certified by the Chinese government.
l   Once the Chinese-grown coffee product currently undergoing the organic certification has been approved, we will be able to label it as “organic”.  However, this coffee is not (yet) Fair Trade certified, although it is purchased using Fair Trade pricing practices. 
 
I know this seems like a lot of information on a simple topic, but it’s important to be clear. 
 
 
CSR Efforts
Other than our Fair Trade and organic products, Arabica Roasters works with several environmental and humanitarian organizations in Greater China, which are listed below.  If you are interested in connecting with any of these, we can help you do so.  Please just let us know. 
 
l   CSR 1:  Jane Goodall Institute China (“JGI China”), www.jgichina.org
Stuart Eunson is on the board of directors of JGI China.  Arabica Roasters a series of coffee from which we donate part of the sales revenues to JGI China.  Please let us know if you would be interested in find out more about these coffees, and how the benefit JGI China.
n   These coffees are packaged in “brown bags”, called “Biotre” bags, which are 100% biodegradable, inside and out.  More information on this below.


l   CSR 2:  Thirst (BJ), www.thirst4water.org
We work closely with Thirst, which is an organization dedicated to increasing the awareness of water conservation around China, and are happy to work with you and Thirst on CSR initiatives that could tie in with water conservation in the greater China area.


l   CSR 3:  Crossroads Café in Hong Kong, www.crossroads.org.hk
We also work closely with the Crossroads Café (HK), and again, are happy to make introductions for you to work directly with Crossroads HK on any furniture or office computer recycling projects you might have.   
 
 
Biodegradable Packaging  
One final comment on coffee packaging options:  Other than our standard coffee bags, which you are using now, we also have a range of 100% biodegradable bags, mentioned in the Jane Goodall section above.  They are manufactured by Pacific Bag in the USA, and are called “Biotre”.  
 
This packaging is a little more expensive than the standard bags, but may fit in with the values of your organization.  Please let us know if you’d like more information on this. 
 
You can read about Biotre by following this link:
http://www.pacificbag.com/index.php/stock_products/biotre. 
 
If you would like more information on sustainable packaging, please click here: http://www.pacificbag.com/index.php/stock_products/sustainable_packaging. 
 
 
I know this is more information than you might have originally been looking for, but it allows us to begin a conversation on which socially-responsible coffee solutions are suited for which of your locations. 
 
Please feel free to call us if you have any questions regarding anything in this document. 

世聯(lián)翻譯-讓世界自由溝通！專業(yè)的全球語言翻譯供應商，上海翻譯公司專業(yè)品牌。絲路沿線56種語言一站式翻譯與技術解決方案，專業(yè)英語翻譯、日語翻譯等文檔翻譯、同傳口譯、視頻翻譯、出國外派服務，加速您的全球交付。 世聯(lián)翻譯公司在北京、上海、深圳等國際交往城市設有翻譯基地，業(yè)務覆蓋全國城市。每天有近百萬字節(jié)的信息和貿(mào)易通過世聯(lián)走向全球！積累了大量政商用戶數(shù)據(jù)，翻譯人才庫數(shù)據(jù)，多語種語料庫大數(shù)據(jù)。世聯(lián)品牌和服務品質已得到政務防務和國際組織、跨國公司和大中型企業(yè)等近萬用戶的認可。