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1 October 2012

Fairtrade sales figures show steady increase

Recent sales figures suggest a marked growth in the number of Fairtrade certified products being purchased in both Germany and the United Kingdom. In 2011, £1.3bn worth of Fairtrade certified goods were sold in the UK and already in 2012 German consumers have bought around 250 million Euro worth of Fairtrade products. In total Fairtrade has seen an increase in turnover of 35 percent in the first half of 2012 compared to the first half of 2011.

The highest growth areas are coffee, flowers and bananas, with Fairtrade roses increasing the most substantially. The sales of Fairtrade bananas rose by around 53 percent to 8,200 tonnes and the sales of coffee increased by nine percent."The economic success is the consumer’s anniversary gift to the producer’s organisations in Africa, Asia and Latin America," said Dieter Overath, manager of Fairtrade Germany.

Harriet Lamb, head of the Fairtrade foundation, puts the increase in sales down to the “public [caring] deeply about what they buy” and a greater understanding by companies that “being ethical is good for them too”. In Switzerland nearly 20,000 people have signed on open letter expressing their desire to see improved conditions for overseas workers who produce uniforms for Switzerland’s public enterprises. The letter was delivered to the Swiss parliament and intended to influence legislation.

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