Garden Office Blog

Fairtrade stats show loyalty to the cause

By Steven Willis on 26th February, 2010

UK consumers have remained "staunchly loyal" to ethical purchasing during the recession, the Fairtrade Foundation have revealed with the publication of their annual sales figures - in a trend that underlines the powerful position that the products now hold in the minds of the public. Although the growth rate has slowed to 12% (from 71% in 2007 and 45% in 2008), registering any kind of improved statistics during the economic downturn represents a positive result, and the fair-trade market is now worth an all-time high of £799m.

"2009 was a tough year for everyone, but a desperate year for many poor communities and small farmers in developing countries," said Harriet Lamb, chief executive of the Fairtrade Foundation. "It is to the credit of the decent British and Irish public that they do care and, despite the recession, they are still voting with their wallets for fairness and want to change the indignities of an unjust trading system."

The global financial crisis has impacted societies around the world in very different ways. While an estimated 70%* of the UK public admitted to feeling the effects of the recession and responded by cutting back on personal spending during 2009, between 50-90m** people in the developing world fell into the category of "extreme poverty".

The Fairtrade Foundation's impressive results indicate that while many have cut back, there remains a dedicated core of consumers willing to pay the premium for products that they believe in, a trend that the wider ethical and environmentally-friendly sectors will hope is replicated across the board.

* YouGov poll
** UN Millennium Development Goal statistics


Category:  Company Updates

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