US/UK:  FAIR-TRADE MOVEMENT ACTIVE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC

October, organicTS.com editorial
The fair trade movement has been attracting attention again given the plight of South American coffee producers and the success of a fair trade chocolate bar in the UK. The volume of fair-trade coffee imported by the United States has more than doubled since 1999, said Paul Rice, director of the TransFair USA organization that coordinates monitoring and labelling.  But sales are still low and currently few coffee growers benefit because less than 1 percent, or

2.19 million of the 219 million cups of coffee Americans drink daily, is certified as fair trade.  Nicaraguan coffee growers participate in fair trade programmes benefit from higher, free-trade prices, around $1.26 a pound for fair-trade beans and $1.41 for beans also certified as organic. Farmers would expect to receive about $1 a pound depending on deductions for transport, processing and community projects.  This compares with prices of less than US$ 50 cents a pound for ³normal² coffee. The fair trade movement is now targeting the giant corporations that drive world coffee prices.  However, Procter & Gamble directors at a shareholder meeting Oct. 9 rejected a pitch to offer fair-trade coffee. P&G prefers to help impoverished producers by giving aid, spokeswoman Margaret Swallow said and executives are looking for groups that work with farmers to help them switch from coffee into growing more profitable crops. Soon Starbucks will offer fair-trade coffee worldwide, chief executive Orin Smith said and he wants fair-trade leaders to work with industry leaders to find cooperatives that can produce the best coffee in large volumes.  Specialty-coffee lobbyists fear this is happening too slowly and that a broad reduction in quality will result as low cost Vietnamese robusta drives out the arabicas.  "We can't do what we need to do with fair trade," said Ted Lingle, director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America. "We can't get consumers to connect with the issue fast enough to make a real difference for the farmer." Lingle wants coffee-market leaders in New York and London to remove "triage" waste products that inflate global coffee volume, in an emergency effort to resuscitate prices. In the UK Dubble, the fair-trade bar aimed at children, celebrated its first birthday last week and has exceeded all sales expectations with more than 3million bars sold so far.  Day Chocolate Company, which markets Dubble in collaboration with Comic Relief, created the brand a year ago.  The cocoa beans come from a farmers' co-operative in Ghana, west Africa. Kuapa Kokoo which has grown from 22 participating village societies to about 700 today. Kuapa Kokoo owns one-third of Day and plays an active role in determining how the firm is run. In the UK the fair trade sector's annual sales increase has averaged 53 per cent and this year sales are expected to top GBP 30million.   Cafedirect, the first fairly traded product on sale in the UK 10 years ago is now the fastest-growing coffee brand in the UK and the seventh biggest. AgroFair UK is aiming to provide a fair-trade fruitbowl to UK shoppers. Part of a Dutch-based firm which is co-owned by growers from Ghana, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Columbia, its Oke bananas make up 10 per cent of the Co-op's banana sales. From next spring, mangoes, then pineapples, citrus and other tropical fruits will be added.