About Fair Trade ...

"Before you've finished your breakfast this morning, you'll have relied on half the world"
- Martin Luther King

An interesting thought. And a depressing one, when you realise that those people you've relied on for your coffee and muesli are almost certainly being exploited and oppressed by the unfair power balance in world trade.

International trade may seem a remote issue, but when commodity prices fall dramatically it has a catastrophic impact on the lives of millions of small scale producers, forcing many into crippling debt and countless others to lose their land and their homes.
Too many farmers in the developing world have to contend with fluctuating prices that may not even cover what it costs to produce their crop.

Development agencies recognised the important role that consumers could play to improve the situation for producers. By buying direct from farmers at better prices, helping to strengthen their organisations and marketing their produce directly through their own one world shops and catalogues, the charities offered consumers the opportunity to buy products which were bought on the basis of a fair trade.

Fair trade labeling was created in the Netherlands in the late 1980s. Max Havelaar launched the first Fair trade consumer guarantee label in 1986 on coffee sourced from Mexico. Today, there are now 19 organisations including the Fair trade Foundation, that run the international standard setting and monitoring body Fair trade Labeling Organisations International (FLO).

Producers registered with FLO receive a minimum price that covers the cost of production and an extra premium that is invested in the local community. For example:-

Worldwide, we eat an estimated sixty billion dollars worth of chocolate every year. But thanks to a long-term decline in world prices, millions of families whose livelihoods depend on cocoa production are facing extreme poverty. But it doesn't have to be that way. The Kuapa Kokoo cooperative, in the Ashanti region at the heart of Ghana's cocoa-belt, is working with Fair Trade organisations to challenge the system. It is helping it's 35,000 members to get their fair share of the profits generated by cocoa.

When Kuapa sells to it's Fair Trade partners in Europe, it receives a guaranteed minimum price, as well as a 'social premium' which is invested in community projects such as building wells and schools.

In September 2004 there were 422 Fair trade certified producer groups (including many umbrella bodies) in 49 producer countries selling to hundreds of Fair trade registered importers, licensees and retailers in 19 countries.

Sales across the 18 countries that license the FAIRTRADE mark are growing at around 20% every year. In the majority of these countries, Fair trade products are now mainstream products available in major supermarkets and independent shops and are beginning to gain market shares. For example (in Switzerland) Fair trade bananas account for one in every 5 bananas sold.

How do I know it's Fair Trade?

Most Fair Trade products bear a Fair trade Mark on the packaging. In different countries look out for the different names,  Transfair , Max Havelaar or Fair trade Foundation . You can find out which is applicable in your country on the Fair Trade Labeling Organisation (FLO) web site.

The Fair trade Mark is the only independent guarantee to consumers that farmers in developing countries get a fair deal for their products.  The FLO system currently covers mainly commodity food products: coffee, tea, chocolate, cocoa, honey, bananas, sugar, orange juice, mangoes and also where any of these products are the key ingredient in another product, for example snack bars.  FLO is working hard to expand the types of products which are eligible for inclusion in the FLO system , for example footballs have recently been introduced as the first non-food product.

The FAIRTRADE Mark or label may be put on a composite product if more than 50% of its ingredients, by dry weight, are sourced from Fair trade certified producer organizations. In case of liquid composite products, a FAIRTRADE Mark may be put on the product if more than 50% of its volume is sourced from Fair trade certified producer organizations.

If a product is making a Fair Trade claim but it doesn't carry a Fair trade Mark you can be sure their claim is genuine if they belong to the International Federation of Alternative Trade (IFAT), whose members have a mission of tackling poverty through trade.

Many major retailers include Fair Trade products in the range of goods they offer the consumer.  There are also over 2,500 World Shops selling Fair Trade goods as part of their mission to overcome poverty through trade.  World shops operate in over 12 different countries and rely on over 100,000 volunteers. For more details about World Shops you can check on www.worldshops.org.

Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalised producers and workers. Fair Trade organisations (backed by consumers) are engaged actively in supporting producers, awareness raising, and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade.

This definition of Fair Trade has been agreed by an informal network of the four Fair Trade Organisations below, known by their initials as FINE.

Fairtrade Labeling Organisations International (FLO)
In order to co-ordinate the work of the various national fair trade initiatives and to run the monitoring programmes more efficiently, an umbrella organisation, FLO was set up in April 1997. A central responsibility for FLO is to collect data and ensure the audit of all Fairtrade-labelled products from the producer to the supermarket shelf. One of its aims is to see the introduction of a single international Fair trade label. The national initiatives retain responsibility for marketing and promoting Fair trade in their respective countries.

International Federation for Alternative Trade (IFAT)
IFAT is a global network of Fair Trade organisations working to improve the livelihoods and well being of disadvantaged people in developing countries, and to change the unfair structures of international trade. Established in 1989, IFAT now has more than 150 members in over 45 countries. Through IFAT, producers of handicrafts and farm products from developing countries join forces with traders in the North and South to develop a fairer approach to international commerce.

Network of European World shops (NEWS!)
NEWS is the Network of European World Shops which
co-ordinates the co-operation between World Shops all over Western Europe. The Network consists of 15 national World Shop associations in 13 different countries, which together represent about 2,500 World Shops in Europe.

European Fair Trade Association (EFTA)
EFTA, established in 1987, is an association of 12 Fair Trade importers in 9 European countries. EFTA facilitates co-operation and co-ordination between its members in the areas of trading with suppliers in the south, advocacy and campaigns work, monitoring of fair trade and marketing fair trade products.