UK consumers are now familiar and well aware of the Fair trade movement. Countless supermarket products come with the fair trade stamp of quality, almost to the point that its presence is diluted. Greedy westerners putting another selling point on their commodities – does this compromise the ethos of the Fair Trade Foundation?
The Fairtrade organisation’s core values remain intact. The movement is aimed at aiding both producers and consumers – encouraging clearer communication with a transparent set of standards.
The Fairtrade mark is a certification for products sourced from companies based in developing countries, with a goal of helping poverty and improving long term development. This is an internationally recognised logo and is in many terms a household brand in the consumer’s eyes.
The Fairtrade standards for generic producers are set high and provide detail in their requirements. This drives businesses such as commercial farms into improving their processes and operations but also supports financially and managerially.
Ethical products have seen a rise in sales volumes over the past four years. Organic food has seen a recent decrease which is attributable to the economical downturn. Contrastingly RSPCA backed Freedom Food products have seen considerable increases in the past two years showing the level of support in the UK economy for ethical consumerism.
The question is does the average consumer knows what the ‘ethically produced’ means? Large organisations such as Sainsburys and Starbucks openly support Fairtrade and there is high amounts of information and retailers backing fair trade products. Therefore, part of the increase of ethical product sales has to be down to genuine demand.
Experienced ethical product wholesaler Premcrest penned a great ‘what is fairtrade’ article giving more information on the Fairtrade and its impact to us in economical terms – visit Premcrest
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