Fair trade movement advances beyond coffee

The fair trade movement appears to be gathering momentum; the number of new fair trade products being introduced is on the increase in Canada and the US, while over in the UK Oxfam has opened the UK’s first fair trade coffee shop.

According to the Naples, NY-based ProductScan Online database of new products, 69 new fair trade products, including many new fair trade coffees, have been introduced over the past two years in the US and Canada. That's up significantly from 15 products in 2002 and just 6 in 2001. Indeed, fair trade, with its emphasis on a fair price for agricultural products, is making waves on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In the UK, the charity Oxfam recently opened Britain's first fair trade coffee shop, Progreso Café. It not only sells hot fair trade coffees, but also fair trade cakes and biscuits.

According to trade reports, the roughly US$100m fair trade coffee market is the fastest-growing sector of the coffee industry. Though this niche makes up a very small portion of a market that counts over $19bn in sales in the United States alone, fair trade coffee is beginning to attract attention. TransFair USA estimates that 30 million pounds of fair trade coffee will be imported into the US this year, nearly double the 18.7 million pounds that hit US shores in 2003.

Though many Americans are still unfamiliar with the fair trade concept, that could change as a new wave of fair trade products based on fair trade fruits, sugar and chocolate begins to hit store shelves.

Among the newcomers are Equal Exchange Organic Chocolates, from West Bridgewater, MA-based Equal Exchange, which are made with Fair Trade Certified cocoa and sugar from small farmer cooperatives, and Better World Hot Cocoa from Waterbury, VT-based Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.

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