Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate the industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil.

But while we continue to pay for our lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields.

Nowhere is this paradox more evident than in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. Tadesse Meskela is one man on a mission to save his 74000 struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy. As his farmers strive to harvest some of the highest quality coffee beans on the international market, Tadesse travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price.

Against the backdrop of Tadesses journey to London and Seattle, the enormous power of the multinational players that dominate the worlds coffee trade becomes apparent. New York commodity traders, the international coffee exchanges, and the double dealings of trade ministers at the World Trade Organisation reveal the many challenges Tadesse faces in his quest for a long term solution for his farmers.

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Coffee grows in more than 50 countries around the world and employs over 25 million coffee growers. Coffee is the largest trading commodity in the world after oil, generating annual sales in excess of $80 billion dollars per year. Coffee is the most popular drink worldwide. Globally, about 2 billion cups of coffee are drunk every day. America is the largest coffee consuming nation in the world. Some estimates suggest that around 3,400 cups of coffee are consumed every second of the day around the world. It takes fifty coffee beans to brew an espresso and each coffee bean has to be individually hand picked. Four multinationals, Kraft, Nestle, Proctor and Gamble and Sara Lee dominate the world coffee market. The price of coffee is established on the major futures exchanges in New York (Arabica coffee) and London (Robusta coffee). Between 2001 and 2003 coffee prices reached their 30 year low. Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee and is known for producing some of the best high grade quality coffee in the world. Today, 15 million people in Ethiopia depend on coffee for their survival. It accounts for 67% of the countrys foreign export income. An average coffee farmer receives less than 3 US cents for a $3 cup of coffee. If Africas share of world trade increased by one percentage point, it would generate over $70 billion per year – five times what the continent currently receives in aid.

“Excellent – angry, good – humoured and essential” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

“Everyone should see it” THE DAILY MIRROR

“Visually ravishing” VARIETY

“Remarkable - A moving but scandalous story. Black Gold has extraordinary power” DAILY TELEGRAPH

“It threatens to… shock consumers into thinking again about what they are buying” THE TIMES of London

“A story as riveting and jaw-dropping as anything currently starring Leonardo DiCaprio” LA TIMES

Wohin geht das Geld, welches Sie für Kaffee ausgeben? Hier ein interessanter Kaffeerechner

Organisationen, die man unterstützen kann: Max Havelaar | Transfair | Claro | Weed | Gebana | FLO International | Erklärung von Bern | Clean Clothes Kampagne | Labor Action China | Helvetas Bio-Baumwolle

Videoclips zum Thema Fairtrade