Price and trade
- The C price is the arabica futures benchmark, in US cents per pound, and it swings hard.
- Fairtrade sets a minimum price and adds a premium; the market price wins when it’s higher.
- Direct trade has no single standard, and a café cup pays the farm only cents.
The C price
Much of the world’s arabica is priced off one hard-working number: the C price, set by futures trading on the ICE exchange, quoted in US cents per pound, for 37,500-pound lots of washed arabica.
Why it won’t sit still
It moves with the weather in Brazil, which grows about a third of the world’s coffee, and with stockpiles, trade politics and speculators’ bets. It sat near 87 cents a pound in 2019 and passed $4.30 in early 2025.
When the screen wins
A farm’s costs don’t swing like the screen does, so a bad year on it can mean selling below the cost of growing. Real deals add a premium or a discount for origin and quality: a commodity price, not a verdict on one farm’s coffee.
Fairtrade: a floor and a premium
Fairtrade certifies farmer co-ops and guarantees a minimum price: for washed arabica, about $1.80 a pound at the time of writing, rising to $2.00 from December 2026, plus a 20-cent premium invested as the members decide.
Where the premium goes
When the market is higher than the floor, co-ops get the market price, and the premium still.
The 20-cent Fairtrade premium is spent by…
Answer: The co-op’s members, as they decide. The co-op’s members decide together. The premium sits on top of the price, whether the market is above the floor or below it: a safety net, not a fortune.
Direct trade, and what backs it
Sort each one by what stands behind it.
- A certificate
- Fairtrade
- A guaranteed minimum price
- A premium the co-op invests
- A roaster’s word
- Direct trade
- A published price paid
- A yearly visit to the farm
Fairtrade is a certification, with a floor and a premium behind it. Direct trade has no single standard, so trust the roasters who publish what they paid.
Why co-ops matter
Either way, co-ops matter: roughly 95% of the world’s 12.5 million or so coffee-growing households farm less than five hectares, and pooling a harvest helps them reach buyers.
Where your café money goes
A flat white starts with about 18 g of roasted coffee, which was roughly 21 g of green. Even at a healthy $3 a pound, that green earns the farm about 14 cents of a $4.50 cup. Illustrative, but the shape holds.
Pay the farm double
Double what the farm is paid for that cup’s coffee. The café price rises by…
Answer: About 14 cents. Milk, rent, wages, roasting and shipping take the rest, so doubling the farm’s pay would barely show at the till.
“A roaster who publishes the price paid has, I find, usually paid one worth publishing.”