UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's has announced plans to ramp up its expenditure in Africa by some £250m (€300m) over the next five years.
The statement was timed to coincide with the World Cup, according to the retailer, which sources much of its Fairtrade produce from the continent.
Sainsbury's professes to be the 'world's largest Fairtrade retailer', with one out of every four pounds spent on Fairtrade products in the UK being spent in one of its stores.
The company's annual Fairtrade sales currently stand at approximately £218m (€260m).
Sainsbury's trading director Mike Coupe commented: 'Sainsbury's has ambitious expansion plans, so we will need to increase the amount of food we source from Africa in order to cater for the increased number of customers. As the world's largest Fairtrade retailer, we feel that we are the industry leader in supporting African economies through trade, and we see this additional investment as key to our success as a company.'
