After oil, coffee is the most actively traded commodity in the world with $80 billion dollars in retail sales. But farmers make as little as three cents for every cup of coffee sold in the U.S. or Europe. Most of the rest of the money goes to the middlemen, especially the four giant food conglomerates which control the coffee market. Black Gold sits in on the coffee auctions in Addis Ababa, London and New York where the fate of the coffee growing nations is decided.
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