Considerable increase in fair trade products last year
Fair trade bananas from El Guabo.Finns consumed fair trade products with enthusiasm last year. Sales totalled 54.4 million euros in Finland last year, an increase of 57 per cent on the previous year.
At this moment more than 1,000 fair trade products are on sale in Finland, the most popular last year being bananas, coffee, flowers, cotton and wine.
Worldwide, sales of fair trade products in 2008 went up by 22 per cent. Their retail value rose to a total of 2.9 billion euros. All the major product groups increased in spite of the economic recession.
"We're really pleased that consumer support for fair trade is constantly on the increase. Fair trade sales have a big effect on the life of the farmers and employees I represent. The revenue and stability brought by the system have become more important because of the international economic recession," says Ruth Simba, coordinator of the African Fairtrade Network.
Fair trade brings benefit to more than a million small-scale farmers in Third World countries and workers on large estates in 59 countries, i.e. in about 750 producer organizations. Almost 90 per cent of fair trade producers are small-scale farmers.
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