Economic Justice

Global Fairtrade sales increase by 47%
Worldwide consumers spent over 2.3 billion euros on Fairtrade certified products in 2007. This represents a 47% increase on the previous year and means that over 1.5 million producers and workers in 58 developing countries now benefit from Fairtrade sales.

Impressive growth can be seen across all product categories. In particular, sales of juices have almost quadrupled, sugar have doubled and bananas have increased by 72%. Coffee, the first and one of the most established Fairtrade products, continued to grow steadily with an increase of 19%. Fairtrade cotton farmers have also seen demand for their produce more than double in just one year. During 2007, the sales of items made out of Fairtrade certified cotton, ranging from cotton wool to jeans and towels, surpassed 14 million individual items.

The growth is the result of the expansion in existing markets and the opening of new ones. The value of sales in Fairtrade’s biggest markets, the UK and US, grew by 72% and 46% respectively. Sweden and Norway were home to the fastest growing markets for Fairtrade with increases of 166% and 110% respectively. The highest per capita consumption in the world was in Switzerland where consumers spent an average of €20.8 on Fairtrade products in 2007.

Rwanda provides a powerful study of the negative societal impacts of free market inefficiencies. The genocide of 1994 resulted from a series of events significantly exacerbated by the collapse of the International Coffee Agreement.