An appetite for Fairtrade

The Fairtrade Foundation is currently running its Fairtrade Fortnight campaign (24 February – 9 March) as well as its Make Bananas Fair campaign.

Michael Gidney, chief executive of the Fairtrade Foundation says, “It’s 20 years since the very first Fairtrade products Green & Black’s Maya Gold, Cafedirect Coffee and Clipper Tea, appeared in the UK, and the appetite for Fairtrade is still growing, despite challenging economic conditions. The UK is truly a world leader for Fairtrade and we’re proud of that.

“But there is still a very long way to go in securing the levels of market access that would drive the breadth and depth of impact for farmers and workers we all want to see, so work in 2014 will continue to focus on innovating the way we work and campaigning to make even more trade fair.”

Estimated retail sales of Fairtrade products in 2013 reached £1.78 billion, an increase of 14% from 2012. Sales of Fairtrade sugar grew 25% in volume, partly driven by sales of the Tate & Lyle Fairtrade sugar brand and retailers’ own label Fairtrade sugar. But the rise in Fairtrade sugar sales was fuelled further still by the inclusion of Fairtrade sugar in products such as chocolate bars, ice cream and other products. Chocolate, cocoa and bananas grew by 52%, 5% and 4% in sales value respectively. Coffee and tea sales have continued to hold steady.

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