Change Today - Choose Fairtrade is the theme of Fairtrade Fortnight 2007, which kicked off on February 26 and runs until March 11.
The Fairtrade Foundation is co-ordinating this year’s even and aims to show just how easy it is to bring change by choosing Fairtrade products. Posters are being distributed countrywide exhorting people to Munch it!, Wear it!, Spread it!, Taste it! and Choose it! And if that doesn’t grab their attention, there is the call to action Promote it!, Try it!, Plan it!
The annual campaign encourages consumers to buy products carrying the Fairtrade mark and, judging from sales, consumers are listening. The Fairtrade market has a current value of £230 million and will be worth £547m by 2011, according to a recent Mintel survey. Harriet Lamb, Fairtrade Foundation executive director, wants the movement to go further. “Fairtrade has demonstrated its potential to help producers improve their livelihoods, strengthen their businesses and benefit their communities, but compared with what is needed in the poorer countries of the world, we’ve really only begun to make a dent in the struggle against poverty and unfair trade,” she says.
John Bowes, the new managing director of AgroFair UK, agrees that the UK market for Fairtrade is still in its infancy.“As consumers and retailers have responded positively to the Fairtrade project it is easy to lose sight of the fact that what has occurred so far - as magnificent as it is - represents only a very small contribution to addressing poverty from a global perspective,” he says. “We are at the beginning of a process and not at the end.”
Agrofair introduced Fairtrade fruit to the UK market. “The challenge now is to take the lead and help drive Fairtrade penetration of the UK fruit market to levels which reflect the enormous empathy which UK consumers clearly have with the whole concept,” Bowes adds.
Katopé Malet Azoulay, the UK marketing arm of Katopé International, is heavily involved in Fairtrade activity and is looking for growth this year. “Our Fairtrade business multiplied ninefold from 2005 to 2006 and we anticipate goodincreases again this year,” says the company’s Geoff Chappell, who is responsible for Fairtrade development.
Indeed, Katopé Malet Azoulay aims to handle 17 Fairtrade lines by the end of 2007, including the whole fresh pineapple category for Marks & Spencer.
Brazilian coconuts will be its newest addition. Chappell explains: “We work with a small farmers group comprising 104 Brazilian growers and when the business started, most of the farmers were handling mangoes. Our aim is to keep creating products for the growers and coconuts is a good fit.”
However, it is not a quick process. It takes around 18 months for farmers to gain Fairtrade certification so the projects Katopé began working on in 2006 will not come into fruition until 2008.
This year’s Fairtrade Fortnight will see Katopé Malet Azoulay working closely with Asda, Morrisons and M&S. The company began supplying Morrisons whenit launchedFairtradeproduce last September.
Capespan is also looking to extend its involvement in Fairtrade and increase its volumes from South Africa, as well as other sources including Egypt and North Africa, in the next year. “Having been one of the primary movers on Fairtrade, we’re pleased that developments are gathering real momentum,” says Capespan’s Martin Dunnett.
The firm is running promotions with The co-operative on Fairtrade grapes. “We’ve been very pleased with the results, the quality of grapes has been excellent,” Dunnett tells the FPJ.
Polls show that more than one in two people in the UK recognise the Fairtrade mark and fresh produce supporters are confident that awareness is growing.
Farmers from Morocco to as far afield as the Dominican Republic have benefited from Fairtrade deals.
Fairtrade bananas is one of the most successful lines and currently makes up 7.9 per cent of the total UK banana market by value, compared with 4.2 per cent in 2004 and 6.7 per cent in 2005. The category came under the spotlight last December when Sainsbury’s announced it became the first UK retailer to convert its entire banana range to 100 per cent Fairtrade. It is the world’s biggest conversion of this kind and from July, all of Sainsbury’s bananas will be Fairtrade.
Following the conversion, Sainsbury’s will buy five times as many Fairtrade bananas from growers. Crucially, the price of bananas will be unchanged.
Sainsbury’s sells 2,000 tonnes of bananas (some 10m individual bananas) each week. According to the Fairtrade Foundation, producer organisations will receive a stable price that covers their full costs of production, plus an extra US$1 per box of 18kg bananas for investment, which is known as the ‘Fairtrade premium’. Sainsbury’s has also strengthened its commitment to maintaining long-term relationships with Fairtrade-certified small-scale farmers in the Windward Islands and the Dominican Republic.
During Fairtrade Fortnight, Sainsbury’s will also be bringing back the giant Fairtrade pineapple for three weeks. This supersweet pineapple is 40 per cent larger than the average fruit and was originally launched in Sainsbury’s for Christmas. Fairtrade pineapples account for around 5.2 per cent of the market.
Grapes have also been brought under the Sainsbury’s Fairtrade umbrella and the retailer began handling South African Fairtrade grapes in January. Sainsbury’s sources its grapes from Keboes Fruit Farms in the Orange River, and as the season progresses, Crimson grapes will follow on from the white seedless packs.
Other retailers are also throwing their weight behind Fairtrade Fortnight. The co-operative, formerly the Co-op, recently announced Fairtrade bananas are to be stocked in all of its 3,000 UK stores from the first day of Fairtrade Fortnight.
The move is expected to double sales from 22m Fairtrade bananas a year to more than 43m within 12 months, according to the retailer.
Sources for The co-operative Fairtrade bananas include Ghana, Ecuador, Costa Rica and the Windward Islands, where growers are receiving a guaranteed price for their bananas and an additional social premium under the Fairtrade scheme, according to the chain.
Sales of Fairtrade products through The co-operative stores for 2006 exceeded £40m - a 25 per cent share of the Fairtrade grocery market for last year. The co-operative is to reduce the price of all the Fairtrade products in store by 20 per cent and all Fairtrade bananas will be 99p per kilo as part of Fairtrade Fortnight.
AgroFair says banana sales to the co-operative have had a tremendous effect on those working on the Volta River Estates Ltd (VREL) in Ghana. “As well as an on-going relationship with The co-operative, thanks to the Fairtrade premium school, children have uniforms for the first time and families have Malaria nets - vital for their well being in an area with a great deal of Malaria,” Clive Marriott, AgroFair UK’s commercial manager tells FPJ.
“Another element of Fairtrade is using fewer agrochemicals, and at VREL they make their own compost using reeds from the Volta River. As well as being a ‘free’ source of nourishment for the bananas, this performs a wonderful service because it is in these reeds that mosquitoes live. As the reeds are cut down, this helps rid the area of some of the mosquito population - a win/win situation.”
AgroFair primarily works with smallholder farmers and helps growers with a range of issues including EurepGAP certification and organic conversion, as well as Fairtrade certification and processes.
AgroFair began working with Moroccan citrus growers last year and reports strong demand for the line. “Sales have been excellent in Asda and Morrisons, exceeding expectations,” says Marriott. “The fruit is of very good quality, making it easy for consumers to switch to Fairtrade.”
The company is looking to expand its sourcing of soft citrus and recently began importing Fairtrade lemons.
Meanwhile, AgroFair’s pineapple sales have continued to grow over the last year and the company expects turnover to increase by 50 per cent.
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