Fairtrade sales grow by 12%
The Fairtrade Foundation has launched its annual Fairtrade Fortnight campaign today with news that sales achieved double digit growth in 2011, and look set to grow further in 2012.
Estimated retail sales of Fairtrade products in 2011 reached £1.32 billion, a 12% increase on sales of £1.17 billion on 2010. Cocoa and sugar saw sales increase by 34% and 21% respectively while sales of bananas, coffee, and tea all showed steady growth.
The 2012 campaign Take A Step for Fairtrade and a new briefing launched today, have revealed that the sugar and confectionery industry is leading the way with 42% of UK retail bagged sugar market now being Fairtrade. The aim is to increase this share to 50%.
Harriet Lamb, executive director of the Fairtrade Foundation, said: “Fairtrade is an example of responsible capitalism in action. We believe that responsible businesses are those who don’t just tackle the company bonuses at the top – but take steps to ensure a fairer deal for the workers and farmers at the bottom of the supply chain too.”
She continued: “The commercial reality is that forward-thinking companies are showing leadership in committing to Fairtrade, realising that, as well as it being the right thing to do, they need to invest in smallholders, developing better, longer-term relationships, to ensure the future supply of commodities like cocoa, coffee, sugar, tea, fruit and more.”
This year’s Fairtrade Fortnight kick-starts a year-long campaign, calling on the public to take 1.5 million steps for Fairtrade – one for every farmer and worker the Fairtrade system hopes to work with – by the end of 2012. A special Step-o-meter has been set up on the Fairtrade website to enable the public to log their ‘steps’ for Fairtrade – www.fairtrade.org.uk/step.
Retailers marking Fairtrade Fortnight with new initiatives include Marks & Spencer’s which is selling the first ever tea grown and packed by a smallholder group in Iriaini, Kenya, while the The Co-operative Group is switching all its bananas to Fairtrade. The organisation also announced that Morrisons is converting its entire sugar range to Fairtrade with products supplied by Tate & Lyle.
