Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Ta ble 17.2
Growth of fair trade certified sales by commodity (metric tons)
2003
2005
% growth rate, 2003-05
Coffee
19 293
33 992
76
Cocoa
2 698
5 657
110
Tea
1 522
2 614
72
Sugar
718
3 613
403
Honey
1 164
1 331
14
Bananas
51 151
103 877
103
Other fresh fruits
1 291
8 289
542
Fruit juice
2 193
4 856
121
Total*
80 632
168 476
109
Note:
* Total includes other certified products measured in metric tons.
Sources:
FLO-I (2005a; 2006a).
There are now 18 certi
fi
ed fair trade commodities, and additional items are being intro-
duced each year. Co
ed product, remains the key commodity,
generating roughly a quarter of all fair trade earnings (FLO-I, 2006a). As noted in Table
17.2, fair trade certi
ff
ee, fair trade's
fi
rst certi
fi
cation in cocoa and tea is also well established, with solid and
expanding sales in these sectors. Bananas represent the second-most valuable fair trade
labeled commodity and volumes are growing rapidly (Raynolds et al., 2007). Even more
impressive is the sales growth in more recently introduced fair trade commodities such as
processed fruits and juices, and fair trade fresh fruits, such as citrus, pineapples, mangoes,
grapes and apples.
Fair trade certi
fi
cation standards establish norms of fairness and sustainability in pro-
duction and trade relations. 4 Traditionally the domain of small farmers, fair trade has
expanded to include hired labor enterprises. Small farmer standards require producers to
organize into democratic cooperatives to facilitate collective development goals, while
estate standards require workers to be represented by independent unions. In addition,
estates must follow key International Labor Organization conventions, including freedom
of association, freedom from discrimination, prohibitions on forced and child labor, and
the maintenance of basic wage, occupational health and safety conditions (FLO-I, 2007b;
2007c). In the environmental realm, fair trade production standards establish basic crite-
ria (including restrictions on agro-chemicals and land clearing, and the promotion of
composting and other natural soil enhancement techniques) and seek to bolster further
ecological improvements through the promotion of organic certi
fi
cation. Buyer standards
uphold fairness and sustainability via the required payment of guaranteed minimum
prices and social premiums and the provision of credit and long-term contracts (FLO-I,
2007b; 2007c). While fair trade's recent growth may extend producer bene
fi
fi
ts, the rapid-
ity of this growth makes guaranteeing these bene
fi
t streams more challenging.
Fair trade production
Due to fair trade sales growth and the proliferation of certi
ed commodities, fair trade is
incorporating additional producer groups and regions. Between 1998 and 2004, the
fi
 
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