Coffee and cocoa judged more important than cotton

Switzerland is the world’s second-largest coffee exporter after Brazil in terms of trade value © Keystone / Christian Beutler

The Swiss government has approved the 2022 International Coffee and Cocoa Agreements but decided to withdraw from the International Cotton Advisory Committee. It said it is focusing on sectors that are “particularly important” for Switzerland.

During the renegotiation, Switzerland advocated strengthening governance, sustainability and cooperation with the private sector in line with the priorities of its foreign economic policy, the government said in a statementExternal link on Wednesday.

“The future International Coffee and Cocoa Agreements should further contribute to the sustainable development of the global coffee and cocoa sectors. This is for the benefit of all players in the value chain. The signing of the new agreements enables Switzerland to represent its economic and development policy interests,” it said.

Switzerland has been a member of the International Coffee Agreement since 1964 and of the International Cocoa Agreement since 1972. The agreements aim to promote exchange and cooperation between consumer and producer countries.

‘Leading role’

The government pointed to the importance for Switzerland of the coffee and cocoa sectors – imports of both goods have roughly tripled over the past 30 years.

“Swiss companies are substantially involved in the international coffee trade and some Swiss coffee roasters play a leading economic role at international level. That is why around 10% of the world’s coffee export value is attributed to Switzerland. This makes Switzerland the world’s second-largest coffee exporter after Brazil in terms of trade value,” it said.

“Swiss cocoa traders also play a leading role at the international level. With regard to development policy interests, Switzerland can promote sustainable production in coffee- and cocoa-producing developing countries.”

At the same time, the government said Switzerland would withdraw from the International Cotton Advisory Committee. The relevance of Swiss membership had “declined considerably” over the past decades, it said, and Switzerland wanted to “focus on commodity organisations that are important to it”.