Portsmouth Fairtrade Forum 

FAIRTRADE Facts

• The FAIRTRADE Foundation was set up at the beginning of the 1990s by agencies including    Christian Aid, Oxfam and the World Development Movement.  

• The FAIRTRADE Foundation has two sets of generic producer standards, one for small farmers and one for workers on plantations and in factories.   

• Sales of products with the FAIRTRADE Mark have continued to rise by around 40% a year and sales figures for 2005 show an estimated value of £195million.

• Recent major developments include Marks & Spencer becoming the first high street retailer to offer a range of items, from T-shirts to socks, made with Fairtrade certified cotton in 40 flagship stores. Sainsbury’s have switched 75 percent of their rose bouquets to Fairtrade. Sainsbury’s will also sell the first babyfood to carry the FAIRTRADE Mark Plum Baby banana and mango. Fairtrade nuts will be in UK supermarkets for the first time – brazil nuts at branches of Tesco and roasted, salted peanuts at the Co-op nationwide. Sales of Fairtrade fresh fruit are rising fastest at Asda. All Caribbean bananas at Waitrose, loose and bagged, now carry the FAIRTRADE Mark.

• Virgin Trains has announced that it is switching all the tea, coffee, sugar and chocolate sprinkles on board to Fairtrade, and will also be working to introduce Fairtrade into its executive lounges. All hot drinks in Slug and Lettuce pubs are Fairtrade, as is all coffee sold by Benjy’s. Marks and Spencer have 100% Fairtrade coffee and tea in their 198 Café Revive outlets and the same is true of the AMT Coffee chain.

• At present, the British public are drinking more than 4.3million Fairtrade hot drinks each day and munching through 750,000 Fairtrade bananas every day. 

• Cafédirect, a Fairtrade licensee, is now the 6th largest coffee brand in the UK. The Fairtrade tea it produces – Teadirect - is the fastest growing tea brand in the UK and currently the 8th largest tea brand in the market.

• In 2003 there were around 150 certified Fairtrade products. The Fairtrade Foundation now certifies over 1,500 products from over 212 companies.

• The Fairtrade Foundation has increased dramatically the range of products on offer with the recent launch of Fairtrade cotton, the first Fairtrade yoghurt, herbs and spices, brazil nuts and roasted, salted peanuts, raisins, avocados and a year-round supply of citrus. This is enabling more and more producer groups to enter Fairtrade. The Foundation has focused in particular on working with African groups. Consequently, there are now 98 producer groups in 20 countries across Africa selling produce including nuts, coffee, tea, other beverages, fruits, spices, flowers, cocoa, cereal, wine and honey.

• Worldwide, the Fairtrade labelling network is working with 548 producer organisations and more than 650 traders with benefits reaching 5 million people – farmers, workers and their families.

• Fairtrade is delivering significant benefits back to producers giving them access to new markets and a guaranteed price. Latest figures for 2004/05 show that Fairtrade sales right across the 20 consumer countries now in the network, reached $1bn, delivering an extra $100m back to producers across the globe – money invested in building their businesses as well as community projects, often focusing on education, health or the environment. For example, producer organisations often decide to use the Fairtrade premium to build/improve schools, or scholarships for children to go to secondary education – because the next generation is their future.

• The Fairtrade Foundation was voted Britain's Most Innovative Charity as part of the Third Sector magazine awards for Britain's Most Admired Charities in November 2005. The FAIRTRADE Mark has also been named winner of the Special Recognition prize in the 'media and services’ category at the Superbrands Awards 2005, beating AOL, BT and The Times.

• Public support for Fairtrade is shown in the enormous growth of the Fairtrade Towns campaign whichnow includes over 150 declared Fairtrade Towns. More than 220 additional towns are actively running Fairtrade Towns campaigns.  There are now around 2,000 Fairtrade churches and 22 Fairtrade Universities as well.

This all has an impact on the public’s awareness of Fairtrade.

• A 2005 MORI poll showed that the number of people who recognise the FAIRTRADE Mark had leapt by 11 percentage points to 50%. For those who buy Fairtrade products, 83% rated the independent guarantee of the FAIRTRADE Mark as important to them