Leatherhead Food International (LFI) has conducted its own research into the subject of fairtrade food and how it sees the market developing. The group has published a new report entitled Fairtrade Foods ñ Market Prospects for the Ethical Option.
It has been suggested that the market for fairtrade has similar prospects to that of the organics industry in the late 1980s, which has risen from $0.4 billion in that period to an estimated $25bn dollars in 2003.
The report assesses the state of the market and analyses factors set to impact on future sales. Between 1997 and 2002, volume sales of fairtrade in the 17 countries certified by the official Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International grew at around 18 per cent a year. They reached 60,000 tonnes in 2002 and expected to reach 70,000t in 2003.
LFI forecasts that the market for officially certified fairtrade foods will show 20-25 per cent volume and value growth over the next five years to hit a level of 150,000t, worth almost $1bn by 2007.
