25 Feb 2008


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UK Fairtrade sales reach £500m

Fairtrade

Fairtrade Fortnight

Tate & Lyle

Harriet Lamb

Sales of Fairtrade products have risen to almost £500m in the UK, according to the Fairtrade Foundation.

The figures, announced today to coincide with the launch of Fairtrade Fortnight (25 February–9 March 2008), show sales increased by 81% to £493m last year.

Sales have been increasing by over 40% year-on-year since 2002, the Foundation adds.

It reports:

• Fairtrade bananas are the best-selling Fairtrade product with sales topping £150m, an increase of 130%. One in four bananas sold are now Fairtrade and the UK consumers 3m Fairtrade bananas a day

• Fairtrade coffee sales rose 24% to over £117m

• Items made with Fairtrade certified cotton increased from over half a million to just under 9.5m

• Fairtrade tea rose 24% to just over £30m. And recent commercial developments mean Fairtrade tea should account for a tenth of tea sold in the UK by the end of 2008

And, in a move designed to coincide with Fairtrade Fortnight, Tate & Lyle has announced it is switching its retail cane sugar range to Fairtrade within two years.

In the first year alone, this increases tenfold the total volumes of Fairtrade sugar sold in the UK in 2007.

“The fantastic increase in sales of Fairtrade goods in 2007 shows the UK’s public’s huge and growing appetite for Fairtrade,” says Harriet Lamb, executive director of the Fairtrade Foundation.

“After years of chipping away, Fairtrade supporters are finally beginning to make some significant impression on the way companies trade.

“Increasing numbers of people in the UK are buying Fairtrade goods as a practical action everyone can take to help tackle poverty in the developing world.”

By Fiona Briggs

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