34 Facts About Fair trade

Fair trade is an arrangement designed to help producers in growing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships.

The fair trade movement combines the payment of higher prices to exporters with improved social and environmental standards.

Fair trade, by this definition, is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency, and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade.

Fair trade organizations, backed by consumers, support producers, raise awareness, and campaign for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade.

One 2015 study concluded that producer benefits were close to zero because there was an oversupply of certification, and only a fraction of produce classified as fair trade was actually sold on fair trade markets, just enough to recoup the costs of certification.

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One proposed alternative to fair trade is direct trade, which eliminates the overhead of the fair trade certification and allows suppliers to receive higher prices much closer to the retail value of the end product.

The coffee has to come from a certified fair trade cooperative, and there is a minimum price when the world market is oversupplied.

The nature of fair trade makes it a global phenomenon; therefore, there are diverse motives for group formation related to fair trade.

Fair trade cooperatives create a space of solidarity and promote an entrepreneurial spirit among growers.

Component of trade is the social premium that buyers of fair trade goods pay to the producers or producer-groups of such goods.

One common way to spend the social premium of fair trade is to privately invest in public goods that infrastructure and the government are lacking in.

Farmers are more likely to identify with organic farming than fair trade farming practices because organic farming is a visible way that these farmers are different from their neighbors and it influences the way they farm.

Fair trade farmers are more likely to attribute their higher prices to the quality of their products rather than fair market prices.

The Fair Trade Certified Mark is still used to identify Fairtrade goods in the United States.

Worldshops, or fair trade shops, are specialized retail outlets that offer and promote fair trade products.

West African countries without strong fair trade industries are subject to deterioration in cocoa quality as they compete with other countries for a profit.

Fair trade encompasses the wider fair trade movement, including the Fairtrade commodities and other artisan craft products.

The fair trade movement fixated on coffee first because it is a highly traded commodity for most producing countries, and almost half the world's coffee is produced by smallholder farmers.

At first fair trade coffee was sold at small scale; now multinationals like Starbucks and Nestle use fair trade coffee.

Largest sources of fair trade coffee are Uganda and Tanzania, followed by Latin American countries such as Guatemala and Costa Rica.

Fair trade certified commodities must adhere to sustainable agro-ecological practices, including reduction of chemical fertilizer use, prevention of erosion, and protection of forests.

Coffee plantations are more likely to be fair trade certified if they use traditional farming practices with shading and without chemicals.

However, socially conscious consumers with a commitment to buying fair trade products are more likely to pay the premium associated with fair trade coffee.

Fair trade seeks to establish a system of direct trade from developing countries to counteract this unfair system.

One of the main tenets of fair trade is that farmers receive a fair price, but this does not mean that the higher price paid for fair trade cocoa goes directly to the farmers.

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Activism and ethical consumption not only promote fair trade but act against powerful corporations such as Mars, Incorporated that refuse to acknowledge the use of forced child labor in the harvesting of their cocoa.

Fair trade textiles are primarily made from fair trade cotton.

The minimum price that Fair trade pays allows cotton farmers to sustain and improve their livelihoods.

Fair trade textiles are frequently grouped with fair trade crafts and goods made by artisans in contrast to cocoa, coffee, sugar, tea, and honey, which are agricultural commodities.

Fair trade cooperatives ensure fair and safe labor practices, and do not allow child labor.

Fair trade textiles are distinct from the sweat-free movement although the two movements intersect at the worker level.

Fair trade maintains that increasing its fair trade purchases would require an unprofitable reconstruction of the supply chain.

For instance, fair trade encouraged Nicaraguan farmers to switch to organic coffee, which resulted in a higher price per pound, but a lower net income because of higher costs and lower yields.

Economist Philip Booth says that the selling techniques used by some sellers and supporters of fair trade are bullying, misleading, and unethical, such as the use of boycott campaigns and other pressure to force sellers to stock a product they think ethically suspect.