[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 368 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 368

  Expressing the sense of the Senate concerning the decline of world 
          coffee prices and its impact on developing nations.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 20, 2002

  Mr. Leahy (for himself, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Specter, and Mrs. Feinstein) 
 submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the Senate concerning the decline of world 
          coffee prices and its impact on developing nations.

Whereas since 1997 the price of coffee has declined nearly 70 percent on the 
        world market and has recently reached its lowest level in a century;
Whereas the collapse of coffee prices has resulted in a widespread humanitarian 
        crisis for 25,000,000 coffee growers and for more than 50 developing 
        countries where coffee is a critical source of rural employment and 
        foreign exchange earnings;
Whereas, according to a recent World Bank report, 600,000 permanent and 
        temporary coffee workers in Central American have been left unemployed 
        in the last two years;
Whereas the World Bank has referred to the coffee crisis as ``the silent 
        Mitch'', equating the impact of record-low coffee prices upon Central 
        American countries with the damage done to such countries by Hurricane 
        Mitch in 1998;
Whereas 6 of 14 immigrants who died in the Arizona desert in May 2001 were small 
        coffee farmers from Veracruz, Mexico;
Whereas The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal 
        report that cultivation of illicit crops such as coca and opium poppy is 
        increasing in traditional coffee-growing countries, such as Colombia and 
        Peru, which have been adversely affected by low international coffee 
        prices;
Whereas the economies of some of the poorest countries in the world, 
        particularly those in Africa, are highly dependent on trade in coffee;
Whereas coffee accounts for approximately 80 percent of export revenues for 
        Burundi, 54 percent of export revenues for Ethiopia, 34 percent of 
        export revenues for Uganda, and 31 percent of export revenues for 
        Rwanda;
Whereas, according to the Oxfam International Report ``Mugged: Poverty in your 
        Coffee Cup'', in the Dak Lak province of the lowest-cost coffee 
        producers in the world, the price farmers receive for their product 
        covers as little as 60 percent of their costs of production;
Whereas on February 1, 2002, the International Coffee Organization (ICO) passed 
        Resolution 407, which calls on exporting member countries to observe 
        minimum standards for exportable coffee and to provide for the issuance 
        of ICO certificates of origin according to those standards and also 
        calls on importing member countries to ``make their best endeavors to 
        support the objectives of the programme'';
Whereas both the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and the National 
        Coffee Association (NCA) support ICO Resolution 407 and have publicly 
        advocated for the United States to rejoin the International Coffee 
        Organization;
Whereas the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has 
        already established coffee sector assistance programs for Colombia, 
        Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, East Timor, El Salvador, Ethiopia, 
        Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Rwanda, Tanzania, 
        and Uganda; and
Whereas House Report 107-663, highlights the coffee price crisis as a global 
        issue and ``urges USAID to focus its rural development and relief 
        programs on regions severely affected by the coffee crisis, especially 
        in Colombia'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) it is the sense of the Senate that--
                    (A) the United States should adopt a global 
                strategy to respond to the coffee crisis with 
                coordinated activities in Latin America, Africa, and 
                Asia to address the short-term humanitarian needs and 
                long-term rural development needs of countries 
                adversely affected by the collapse of coffee prices; 
                and
                    (B) the President should explore measures to 
                support and complement multilateral efforts to respond 
                to the global coffee crisis; and
            (2) the Senate urges private sector coffee buyers and 
        roasters to work with the United States Government to find a 
        solution to the crisis which is economically, socially, and 
        environmentally sustainable for all interested parties, and 
        that will address the fundamental problem of oversupply in the 
        world coffee market.
                                 <all>