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Purchasing only the best Starbucks buys the highest quality arabica coffee in the world. It is our goal to pay premium prices that result in a profit for the farmers and their families. In FY 2004, Starbucks paid on average, $1.20 per pound ($2.64kg) for high-quality coffee beans. This was 74 percent higher than the commodity market’s price during the year.
Economic transparency In 2001, Starbucks began inserting transparency into standard contracts. Today, we have economic transparency requirements for 59 percent of all coffee purchased to provide information on the payments made to farmers. This represents 177 million lbs. (80 million kg.) of coffee.

Requiring economic transparency is a relatively new practice in the coffee industry. We recognize it will pose enormous challenges, but we are committed to having transparency in prices paid to the farmer. Starbucks supports efforts to make this practice common throughout the coffee industry worldwide.