FAIR TRADE

Fair trade is a market-based approach that allows producers in developing countries to obtain better working and trading conditions. It advocates the payment of a "fair" price to producers, and promotes social and environmental standards. It focuses on exports from developing countries to developed countries, most notably handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate, flowers and gold.

Fair trade certified sales in 2008 amounted to approximately 2.9 billion euro worldwide, a 22% year-to-year increase.
While this represents a tiny fraction of world trade in physical merchandise, some fair trade products account for 20-50% of all sales in their product categories in individual countries.

In June 2008, Fair trade Labeling Organizations International estimated that over 7.5 million producers and their families were benefiting from fair trade funded infrastructure, technical assistance and community development projects.

Fair trade funds finance cooperatives of producers in emerging countries, in exchange of a sustainable interest rate, during one or more stages of their supply chain from the purchase of the seeds to the export of products to the end markets.