What is Fairtrade?
Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices (which must never fall lower than the market price), Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives.
What are Fairtrade standards?
Fairtrade standards comprise both minimum social, economic and environmental requirements, which producers must meet to be certified, plus progress requirements that encourage continuous improvement to develop farmers’ organisations or the situation of estate workers.
What is the Fairtrade minimum price?
The Fairtrade minimum price defines the lowest possible price that a buyer of Fairtrade products must pay the producer. The minimum price is set based on a consultative process with Fairtrade producers and traders and guarantees that producers receive a price which covers the cost of sustainable production. When the market price is higher than the Fairtrade minimum price, the market price is payable.
What is the Fairtrade premium?
Money paid on top of the Fairtrade minimum price that is invested in social, environmental and economic developmental projects, decided upon democratically by a committee of producers within the organisation or of workers on a plantation.
How many Fairtrade products in the UK are there?
The Fairtrade Foundation has licensed over 3,000 Fairtrade certified products for sale through retail and catering outlets in the UK.
How big is the UK Fairtrade market?
The UK market is doubling in value every 2 years, and in 2007 reached an estimated retail value of £493 million. The UK is one of the world’s leading Fairtrade markets, with more products and more awareness of Fairtrade than anywhere else. Around 20% of roast and ground coffee, and 20% of bananas sold in the UK are now Fairtrade.
Some people say ‘buy local’ rather than ‘buy Fairtrade’. What is the Fairtrade Foundation’s response?
The Fairtrade Foundation recognises that many farmers in the UK face similar issues to farmers elsewhere, not least ensuring that they get a decent return for upholding decent social and environmental standards in their production. We therefore support the promotion of sustainable production for UK farmers but our specific role will continue to be supporting farmers from the developing world.
Fairtrade isn’t in competition with UK farmers and the purchase of locally produced and Fairtrade products are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Fairtrade focuses by and large on tropical agricultural products such as coffee and bananas that can’t be grown in temperate climates or products that can’t be grown in sufficient quantities in the EU e.g. grapes and oranges. For some items such as honey and flowers, local supply is not able to meet the total demand - it has been estimated that both UK flowers and honey account for less than one-third of the UK market - and so imports are necessary to keep up with consumers’ shopping preferences. Other products, such as apples, are seasonal in both the UK and places like South Africa, and for as long as shoppers want to buy apples out of season, there is a demand for fruit from other countries. Often the choice facing shoppers is not necessarily between local honey and Fairtrade certified honey but between Fairtrade honey and conventional honey imported from, say, the US or China. It is up to each person to weigh up these choices and shop accordingly.
Ultimately, it is up to each person to do what they see as being in the interests of people and the planet. What is important is that we all try to make informed choices wherever possible. The Fairtrade Foundation is committed to raising awareness of ways in which buying products carrying the FAIRTRADE Mark is empowering and strengthening the future for disadvantaged producers in developing countries.