All’s fair in love and commerce

The principle behind fair trade is to provide producers from some of the world’s poorest countries with an adequate living wage. It ensures that product production is sustainable and that producers’ working environments are just as safe as those in the west.

The Fairtrade logo is a familiar sight on store shelves, and it holds a specific meaning to both companies and consumers. In the UK, the Fairtrade logo is instantly recognisable to consumers; it is used to symbolise the adherence of a product to the minimum Fairtrade ideals. The Fairtrade movement has a particular focus on exports from developing nations to developed nations, most notably chocolate, fresh fruit, coffee, tea and sugar. Businesses selling products displaying the Fairtrade logo are effectively showing their commitment to providing producers with a better deal when it comes to the trading of their produce. By purchasing Fairtrade products, consumers can ensure that the labourers who provide the products benefit from a better life. Businesses empowering Fairtrade are seen to respect the environment, and it is these businesses that appear to be growing and thriving.

The fair trade industry in itself has experienced rapid growth in recent years with an increasing number of consumers opting to buy products that exhibit some form of fair trade accreditation. In the UK alone, in excess of £400m was spent on Fairtrade produce in 2007, with twice as many Fairtrade products being sold in 2007 as in 2006. This goes to show that the ideas and principles behind the fair trade movement are gathering increasing support among both consumers and businesses. Further evidence to support this is that Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, two of the UK’s largest grocery retailers, have made the decision to stock only Fairtrade bananas. Marks & Spencer meanwhile, have made a decision to stock only Fairtrade ranges of coffee. Businesses have realised the potential to utilise their buying power to transform the lives of producers in poorer nations. Furthermore, as consumers have become more aware of the issue of sustainability, businesses can capitalise on consumer concerns by selling fair trade lines of produce. This way, businesses can satisfy consumers’ desires to know about the sources of the products they are purchasing and the working conditions of producers throughout the entire supply chain.

Some businesses are opposed to the use of the Fairtrade logo, claiming that the intentions of the Fairtrade movement are misguided and misplaced. While Fairtrade guarantees certified producers a minimum price for their goods, some believe that the Fairtrade movement distorts local markets and does little to assist economic development. Alternative Trading Organisations (ATOs) are private organisations dedicated to fair trade, the majority of which were established before Fairtrade certification. These ATOs include Rainforest Alliance, Artisans du Monde, Divine Chocolate, Ten Thousand Villages and Equal Exchange. 

These organisations each have their own aims of working to ensure sustainability and their logos are displayed on products either alongside or in the place of the Fairtrade logo. Businesses therefore have the opportunity to present customers with products displaying a wide range of fair trade logos and hence are able to offer consumers a greater variety of fair trade aligned produce to satisfy their environmental concerns.

The Fairtrade logo and the logos of Alternative Trading Organisations (ATOs) are effective at aiding customers in selecting sustainable produce. Campaigns to increase public awareness of the issues surrounding sustainability are likely to result in further increases in the sales of fair trade produce. This will not only benefit producers in poorer nations but businesses in developed nations will be quick to further capitalise on this by increasing their range of fair trade produce.