Fairtrade: Sales reach 800 million £ in the UK

The UK public has remained loyal resulting in another increase in the value of Fairtrade sales, up on 2008 by 12 % to an estimated retail value of over 800 million £, and 71 % of people say they are willing to swap one or more products to Fairtrade in the next two weeks, according to the new YouGov poll commissioned by the Fairtrade Foundation. Mainstream moves to Fairtrade included Cadbury Dairy Milk, all Starbucks espresso-based coffee, Nestle’s four-finger KitKat, Sainsbury’s rolling out their commitment to convert all their tea and coffee, Morrison’s converting all their roast and ground coffee, Tesco converting their Finest Tea, and Tate & Lyle converting their retail sugar. 

And, with the new Fairtrade standards for cosmetics, companies like Boots, Lush, Bubble & Balm, and Neal’s Yard all introduced Fairtrade lines. Ben & Jerry’s announced that they will be going 100 % Fairtrade in the UK and throughout Europe by the end of 2011 and globally by end 2013. Green & Black’s announced they will switch their entire range of chocolate bars and beverages to 100 % Fairtrade by the end of 2011. These moves complement earlier big swaps, the Fairtrade Foundation reports: all M & S tea, coffee, bagged sugar and conserves are Fairtrade, all own-label beverages at the Co-op are Fairtrade, all bananas sold in Sainsbury’s and Waitrose are Fairtrade, all coffee at Pret A Manger, EAT and AMT Coffee is Fairtrade, whilst pioneering companies such as Cafédirect, Divine Chocolate, Liberation, Traidcraft, Equal Exchange and Bishopston Trading Company apply Fairtrade principles throughout their business.
 

Fairtrade Fortnight 2010 has the theme of "The Big Swap" to rally  people across the UK and Ireland to swap everyday shopping basket items for Fairtrade ones during the fortnight. The Big Swap shows shoppers how easy it can be to break out of old shopping habits and start new ones – especially as more than 4,500 products are now licensed to carry the Fairtrade mark. With companies rallying behind the Big Swap theme with point-of-sale material and signing up to major product swaps for 2010, consumers should find it easy to make the Big Swap and help reach the Fairtrade Fortnight campaign target of one million and one swaps. During Fairtrade Fortnight, the Fairtrade Foundation will tot up product swaps on a special online swap-o-meter here 
 

Fairtrade Foundation