"Fairtrade"- products increase

Last year consumers spent 2.04 billion euros on products with the "Fairtrade" seal. This equates to 25 euros per head and a growth rate of 26 percent.

The Transfair association announced at a digital press conference that for the first time Fairtrade sales have broken through the 2-billion-euro barrier. Also even during the Corona crisis, the demand for Fairtrade food such as coffee, bananas and cocoa has remained stable.

The sales volumes of individual products increased as follows: Bananas by 41 percent to 130,000 tons, according to Transfair, the main reason for this was that Lidl listed fair trade bananas without the organic seal. The market share of Fairtrade bananas is 20 percent. Coffee increased by 12 percent to 23,000 tonnes and its market share to around 5 percent. More and more chocolate products contain Fairtrade cocoa, 79,000 tonnes were used in 2019. This was 45 percent more than in the year before and Fairtrade cocoa now has a market share of 17 per cent. Well over half a billion fair roses were sold, an increase of 19 percent. Their market share is 30 percent.

In 2019 slightly less tea was drunk (-6 percent, 359 tonnes). Transfair attributes this to the hot summer. Honey (+12 percent to 1,500 tons) and rice (+40 percent, 1,170 tons) performed better. Transfair accounts for the increase in rice to the drugstore chain dm listing Davert rice products. Rising demand for work clothes and cotton bags, helped by the ban on plastic bags, led to a 59 per cent increase in sales of textiles with Fairtrade cotton, to 22.2 million pieces.

Fairtrade premiums flow into measures to fight the virus

Producer organisations in the global South are receiving stable minimum prices for Fairtrade sales and an additional premium, the Fairtrade premium. According to Transfair, through sales in the German market, the premium amounted to 38 million euros.

"Especially now, the premium is even more important than ever as it is often the only reserve that producers have. We see exemplary actions being taken such as educational campaigns and the purchase of hygiene products, but also, compensation for loss of income," explained Mary Kinyua, chairwoman of the Fairtrade Africa producer network.