Although coffee is one of the highest in volume of global trading, the coffee market is very fragmented. This has led to a consolidation process where coffee is handed off from farmer to collector, collector to miller, miller to exporter or broker and finally to importer. The importer or broker then sells the coffee to large mass-market coffee roasters and producers. Starbucks however, wishes to maintain the quality of its coffee by working the supply chain to the actual growers. In doing so the company works on attaining expertise and good relationships with the coffee growers themselves. As mentioned earlier this has resulted in the company attaining its supplies from the actual coffee growers, and thus, effectively bypassing much of the middle market and saving a sufficient amount of funds