22 Feb 2008


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Fairtrade fresh produce attracts new buyers

Fairtrade

Fresh Produce

TNS Worldpanel

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Sainsbury's leads Fairtrade fresh produce market 22 Feb 2008

Source : TNS Worldpanel
Claire Pullinger, TNS Worldpanel market analyst, examines the growth in Fairtrade fresh produce on the cusp of Fairtrade Fortnight (25 February-9 March, 2008)

As we are increasingly exposed to media sources emphasising the benefits of Fairtrade, it is no wonder the Fairtrade produce market is performing so well.

Fairtrade fresh produce makes up almost 52% of the total Fairtrade market, with a value of £128m. Although this figure makes up just 1.6% of the total produce market, the value of Fairtrade produce has more than doubled in the last year.

This impressive growth has been due to a combination of more shoppers entering the Fairtrade market and Fairtrade products becoming more central to our repertoire as shoppers purchase Fairtrade more frequently.

Nearly 54% of us are now buying Fairtrade produce compared with 36% just a year ago. This huge increase may be due to the drop in prices in the sector in the past year, which has attracted new buyers to the market.

The Fairtrade market as a whole has a value of £246.5m and has enjoyed recent success with growth of 50%. Fairtrade chocolate is becoming more popular, experiencing growth of 20% as more shoppers buy Fairtrade.

Coffee is another market in which Fairtrade plays an important part, and Fairtrade ground coffee in particular has performed strongly with growth of 11.1%.

Within fresh produce Sainsbury's outperforms the other stores with a 50% share of Fairtrade produce. Sainsbury's has experienced strong value growth in fair trade produce in the last year alongside falling prices.

This has been largely due to more people buying Fairtrade fruit in Sainsbury's, but this may not have been through choice as last year Sainsbury's made the decision to sell only Fairtrade bananas, which has accounted for the massive rise in Fairtrade fruit sales.

Waitrose also performs well in Fairtrade with a 16.7% share of Fairtrade produce.

More and more of us are buying into Fairtrade fresh produce but is this a conscious decision or is our decision made for us through our choice of store?

This is an important question to consider as the ethical battleground is set in the retail sector. Whichever answer is correct it is true that more of us are buying into Fairtrade within fresh produce but it is important to remember that almost half of GB households did not buy a single Fairtrade fresh produce item in the latest 52 weeks.

The upcoming Fairtrade Fortnight provides another chance for the industry to communicate the Fairtrade message to consumers and further grow the Fairtrade buyer base.

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