Tea pickers in Herkulu, Tanzania, where the extra money from Fairtrade has paid for new roofs for workers’ housing. Cafédirect’s new coffees and teas, and Traidcraft’s Cocoa 1994 – 2001: Comparison of Geobars and boxed chocolates. Fairtrade & New York Exchange Prices 2500 Mainstreaming Fairtrade – supermarket brands launched 2000 Fairtrade One of the key objectives of the Fairtrade Foundation from the outset nearly 10 years ago was the 1500 ‘mainstreaming’ of fairly traded products. While the pioneering work of fair trade shops remains extremely New York 1000 important in making fair trade a reality for significant US $ per tonne number of producers, the products have to be in the places where the majority of shoppers can easily find 500 them. The largest part of the mainstream food market is, 0 April 1994 September 1997 – November 1998 December 2001 obviously, the large supermarket chains and Fairtrade products can now be found in the vast majority of these outlets. Within this sector, Own Brand products represent It doesn’t Costa lot a large and rapidly growing element of total sales that Costa Coffee, one of the leading high street coffee shops complement the activities of supplier brands. with over 280 outlets, became the first chain to offer customers the option of Fairtrade coffee and tea, under The Co-operative Group started the trend for Own Brand the Cafédirect and Teadirect brand, on a regular basis in Fairtrade products in March 2000 by launching a November 2000. Their coffee buyer worked with chocolate bar (jointly branded with Divine), followed by Cafédirect and TWIN Trading to produce a unique blend a roast & ground coffee, and other products are under of Fairtrade coffee to suit Costa’s famous Italian-style development. Sainsbury’s Own Brand range first espresso. Producers in Mexico, Peru, Cameroon and appeared on the shelves in October 2001, with a roast Tanzania will benefit from the extra Fairtrade coffee that & ground coffee from Colombia – and the company has Costa is selling. The extent of this depends on consumer announced plans for tea, chocolate, and drinking requests – so remember to always ask for Fairtrade tea chocolate to follow in early 2002. Both companies also and coffee when ordering! stock Fairtrade bananas, under their Own Brand name, in the majority of their stores. Also in the mainstream market are independent food shops, many of which have maintained a strong commitment to Fairtrade through the years. Which? report rates Fairtrade The Consumers’ Association Which? magazine looked at Fairtrade Labelling in November 2000. Commending the scheme for the benefits it brings to producers and the independent guarantee of clearly defined standards that is provided for consumers, it also warned shoppers to beware of products making similar sounding claims without the Mark. And in a professional blind tasting of leading coffee brands, a Fairtrade product was voted the favourite. The magazine’s conclusion was that, © Cafédirect ‘considering the benefits Fairtrade products give, (the A Costa Coffee shop with Cafédirect extra cost) is a small price to pay’. and Teadirect on sale 7 A FAIRER FUTURE The world of fair trade is undergoing rapid change as Find out more about FLO at www.fairtrade.net with links more consumers and companies respond to our message. to the websites of the 16 other FLO members across the This presents both opportunities and challenges in world. response to which the Foundation and its partners have been developing future strategies. A key feature of this The FLO Forum work has been consultation and collaboration among the Over 100 representatives from registered producer different parts of the fair trade movement, and also with organisations came together in Germany in September other stakeholders. 2001 for the first FLO Fairtrade Forum, together with International improvements traders, retailers, FLO members and staff and other key partners. The Fairtrade Foundation is a leading member of Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO), The Forum reviewed the restructuring process, approving which controls the standards that underpin the Fairtrade the major changes, and elected stakeholder Mark, and inspects and monitors producers as the central representatives to the new FLO Board. It also provided a element of the certification process. FLO also has an valuable opportunity for networking, in-depth discussion important role in organising support and development of topical issues (such as developments in GM crops) and programmes for producers and enabling them to improve training sessions. The Forum will meet every two years their access to markets. It is a unique international system with regional producer assemblies and product specific operating across 36 producing and 17 consuming marketing meetings in between. countries. Over the past two years, FLO has undergone a major Foundation’s strategic review restructuring programme to improve its effectiveness and In another first, the Foundation held its own Assembly in to enable producers and commercial partners to London in September 2001. It was attended by over 60 participate in determining the future direction of Fairtrade. stakeholders from the fair trade movement, NGOs, licensees, retailers and other interested parties. During As part of this programme, the following changes have the preceding months, the Foundation consulted widely been introduced: on the key issues regarding its future role and objectives. ● There are now just two sets of standards – one for These discussions provided valuable input into small farmer organisations and one for organisations discussions among staff and trustees, culminating in a with wage-earning employees. This will facilitate the comprehensive plan approved by the Board of the development of new Fairtrade products, although Fairtrade Foundation in December 2001. there will still be specific trade rules for each product – especially the pricing system. Further work will be Two agreed priorities impact on all areas of the co-ordinated by a Standards & Policy Working Group Foundation’s work: that will report to the FLO Board. 1. Mainstreaming Fairtrade – consolidate and ● There is now a single Certification Unit which is develop the place of Fairtrade products in the separate from the team of Product Managers offerings of mainstream suppliers and retailers by – responsible for producer and market development, ● positioning the Fairtrade Mark as the unique and from the Producer Support Network. independent consumer guarantee of Fairtrade ● The Certification Unit will manage the inspection of standards. This requires strengthening all our systems producers and control the audit process for Fairtrade and further clarification of the vision underlying the products. Inspection work is increasingly carried out Mark and the values it represents as we seek to by experts from the producers’ region. An engage with a much broader and less instinctively independent certification committee has been supportive consumer base. established. ● broadening dramatically the range of products that ● Producers and other stakeholders are now can carry the Fairtrade Mark while maintaining the represented in FLO’s key decision making processes, core standards. including the Board, which includes four producer ● significantly increasing awareness of Fairtrade and representatives and two commercial partners. the Fairtrade Mark among consumers by better use of 8 Tea pickers in Herkulu, Tanzania, where the extra money from Fairtrade has paid for new roofs for workers’ housing. existing communications channels (retailers, licensees, NGO partners & the media) and developing new Countries with registered Fairtrade ways of delivering our message. producers ● ensuring that the Foundation has access to sufficient Those marked with * are selling to the UK commercial experience at all levels of governance Africa El Salvador and staffing. Cameroon (*) Guatemala (*) Congo Haiti (*) 2. Collaboration with key partners – ensure co- Ethiopia (*) Honduras (*) ordination of policies, clear understanding of roles Ghana (*) Mexico (*) and responsibilities and avoid unnecessary Tanzania (*) Nicaragua (*) duplication of work by – Uganda (*) Paraguay (*) ● working more closely and effectively with the wider Zimbabwe Peru (*) St. Lucia (*) fair trade movement, particularly through the Asia St. Vincent (*) Fairtrade Leaders’ Forum. China Uruguay ● India (*) further developing close working relationships with Venezuela (*) Indonesia (*) key commercial actors and statutory bodies to NB: Dominica, Nepal achieve mainstreaming of Fairtrade. St. Lucia and St. Vincent Philippines ● are countries of the capitalising on synergies with campaigning Sri Lanka (*) Windward Islands organisations, particularly through the Trade Justice Thailand Movement, to ensure that Fairtrade complements Vietnam There are 350 producer broader trade campaigns and vice versa. Latin America groups registered with ● ensuring that the governance of the Fairtrade & the Caribbean FLO in 37 countries, representing Foundation is more responsive and accountable to the Belize (*) approximately four and a wider partnerships. Bolivia (*) half million farmers and Brazil their families. They are Colombia (*) supplying their products Chile (*) to hundreds of traders Costa Rica (*) and processors in 17 Cuba (*) countries with Fairtrade Dominica (*) initiatives across Europe, Dominican Republic (*) North America and Ecuador (*) Japan. Raymond Kimaro (left) from the KNCU Fairtrade