[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 151 (Wednesday, November 20, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S11792]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     DECLINING WORLD COFFEE PRICES

  Mr. REID. I ask consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration 
of S. Res. 368, introduced earlier today by Senators Leahy, Dodd, 
Specter, and Feinstein.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S.R. 368) expressing the sense of the Senate 
     concerning the decline of world coffee prices and its impact 
     on developing nations.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution and preamble be 
agreed to en bloc, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and 
any statements be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 368) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, is as follows:

                              S. Res. 368

       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 America 
     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 Vietnam, one 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.

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