Explaining Fair Trade
Not long ago, fair trade bananas and fair trade coffee were just about all we could find on the shelves. Now they’ve been joined by fair trade chocolate, fair trade clothes and even fair trade gifts. With well over 2,000 fair trade goods available now in the UK, up from just 150 in 2003, we can now buy just about anything from fair trade.
What’s It All About?
Fair trade is about suppliers getting a fair price for their product. Some standards promote co-operatives and democratic, participative structures; while others protect employees, in terms of things like decent wages and minimum health and safety standards. They also ensure fair trade companies are continuously improvin
g their products.
Fair trade is identified primarily through the fair trade logo, which is a hugely prized symbol for firms and recognises they use companies who maintain certain ethical standards.
There have been huge benefits of fair trade, which are based on the financial benefits of agreeing a guaranteed price for produce. These include the obvious positive knock-on effects on employment rates and the health of employees, as well as enriching co-operation and organisation between suppliers. This has helped production and traceability of goods, which has prevented some exporters cheating suppliers out of money through hidden, complicated supply chains.
For the consumer, the range of fair trade goods has also increased. The abundance of fair trade goods rival mainstream products, with fair trade tea and fair trade coffee giving consumers as much ethical choice now as fair trade wine, fair trade clothes, fair trade gifts and even fair trade chocolate.
Criticisms of Fair Trade
Despite its benefits, fair trade has been criticised because it promotes buying goods from abroad. Transporting fair trade goods around the world creates a huge carbon footprint, whereas domestically produced goods would be better for the environment.
There are also criticisms about the lengthy registration process involved in becoming fair trade. Many small and inexperienced suppliers have been put off because of an initial registration fee and complicated paperwork being part of a long-winded process.
Other people say fair trade is a gimmick whereby too much money is still kept at the till rather than reaching suppliers. Maybe it’s little more than a PR exercise for many firms, with fair trade unlikely to ever make up a significant share of the market.
Misuse of the fair trade logo has also dented fair trade. Various cases surround the coffee trade and the most highly publicised one involved Nestle. According to Baby Milk Action, in 2005 Nestle used the fair trade logo to improve its image because it used around 200 farmers in El Salvador to supply coffee for its Partners’ Blend brand, while using over 3 million other farmers around the world who fell outside the fair trade boundaries.
But these instances are by far outweighed by the good work undertaken by fair trade companies such as Traidcraft and Oxfam who painlessly work with suppliers and sell fair trade goods for the benefit of local communities who would otherwise have been ruthlessly exploited.
For more information about fair trade or fair trade products, contact:
The Fairtrade Foundation (http://www.fairtrade.org.uk)
The International Federation for Alternative Trade - the global network of Fair trade Organisations (http://www.ifat.org/)
Traidcraft (http://www.traidcraft.co.uk/)
Oxfam (www.oxfam.org and http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/Hub.aspx?catalog=HighStNew&category=HNFairtrade)
British Association for Fairtrade shops (http://www.bafts.org.uk/)
Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (http://www.fairtrade.net/)
The Co-operative (http://www.co-operative.coop/ourcampaigns/goodwithfood/#Fairtrade)
The Co-operative College (http://www.co-op.ac.uk/default.htm)
B. Hughes
Tags: fair trade, fair trade bananas, fair trade coffee, fair trade products
