Starbucks delays opening of Ethiopia support center

New York City Starbucks Corp. said it is not sure when it will open a center in Ethiopia to support coffee farmers, due to the downturn in the global economy and delays in opening a similar center in Rwanda.

The company said it had originally hoped its Ethiopian Farmer Support Center would be open by now, but delays in opening the Rwanda center and "the global slowdown in the economy have made it challenging for us to move as quickly as we would like."

"We remain committed to opening a Farmer Support Center in Addis, but do not have an opening date to announce at this time," the company said.

The company had planned to open both of the centers in 2008.

Starbucks plans to use the centers to work with coffee farmers to improve coffee quality, and help them produce more coffee that can be purchased by specialty coffee buyers.