Fairtrade sales up by a third
Fairtrade sales up by a third
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Wednesday, 28, Jun 2006 12:17
Sales of Fairtrade certified products rose by a third to £758 million last year, Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO) International has announced.
In particular coffee sales grew dramatically in the US, up by 70.9 per cent in 2005. Sugar sales shot up by 125 per cent in France while bananas in Austria were up 46 per cent.
Luuk Zonneveld, managing director of FLO International, said that Fairtrade's "significant worldwide growth in 2005 also shows that more and more producers, traders and licensees trust the Fairtrade certification mark and look to join the system".
"Increasingly companies are knocking on the door of the labelling organizations because they want to have the cer¬tification mark on their products. In only one year, from 2004 to 2005, the number of licensees offering Fairtrade Certified products in¬creased by 29 per cent.
Mr Zonneveld reiterated the purpose of Fairtrade products, to help farmers in developing nations "organise into democratically run groups and implement changes in agricultural practice", a reforming practice which it says makes possible "sustainable" changes, "giving communities a real chance to build a brighter future".
Fairtrade coffee sales in the UK, which increased by 34 per cent in 2005, were boosted by the complete transition of Marks and Spencer coffee and tea products to the Fairtrade label. No other major British supermarkets have as yet taken on the same commitment to Fairtrade products.
As a result of its sales expansion, FLO International is increasing the amount of investment and assistance it is giving to producer organisations, having set up a producer business unit and increased the number of liaison officers to 25.