Fair trade is without doubt a positive movement, in terms of both the financial benefits for small producers and perhaps, more importantly, for the way it has raised awareness about the inequalities of global trade. But its does have it sceptics and critics and Allegra starts the debate with these questions:

Her guests have widely differing views on the subject and lively round-table discussion is guaranteed. They are:

Barbara Crowther, Head of Communications for the Fairtrade Foundation which she joined in 2004 from Save the Children where she was Head of Campaigns. She started out as a global youth worker and educationalist for the aid agency CAFOD and was later promoted to Head of Public Education where she campaigned on landmines and ethical trade. She led the organisation’s efforts as part of the massive Jubilee 2000 drop in debt campaign.
www.fairtrade.org.uk

Neil Kelsall, Managing Director of Malagasy Ltd, a company selling chocolate, coffee, tea and spices that are grown, processed and packaged in their country of origin, Madagascar. He is one of the driving forces in setting up Equitrade, a joint venture between UK and Madagascar who’s aim is to end poverty through sustainable commercial international trade.
www.equitrade.org
www.malagasy.co.uk

Alex Singleton, President of the Globalisation Institute, a Brussels-based think tank that develops practical policies to help Europe better harness globalisation. He was formerly Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute. Described as “the high priest of globalisation” by a top UN diplomat, he is a regular commentator on television and radio and has visited coffee co-ops in Africa.
www.globalisation.eu

• UK sales of Fairtrade products are running at £300m per year
• Sales figures for 2006: coffee £93,001,547, tea £25,103,831, bananas £65,620,000, chocolate £23,034,078
• Over 2,500 retail and catering product lines now carry the FAIRTRADE Mark
• Latest figures show that Fairtrade has strong recognition in relation to other brands at 89%, significantly higher than Soil Association and Red Tractor Scheme both of which have many more licensed products.
• Currently Fairtrade product sales have achieved only 1-3% market penetration.
• There are now 250 Fairtrade towns, over 3,000 Fairtrade churches and a soon to be launched Fairtrade schools campaign.
• For a product to display the FAIRTRADE Mark it must meet international Fairtrade standards . These standards are set by the international certification body Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO).

Further reading:

The Economist

Financial Times

The Observer