The Fairtrade Foundation has licensed over 3,000 Fairtrade certified products for sale through retail and catering outlets in the UK. The UK market is doubling in value every 2 years, and in 2007 reached an estimated retail value of £493 million. The UK is one of the world’s leading Fairtrade markets, with more products and more awareness of Fairtrade than anywhere else. Around 20% of roast and ground coffee, and 20% of bananas sold in the UK are now Fairtrade.Whatever the price of the product on the shelf, only the FAIRTRADE Mark ensures that the producers have received what has been agreed to be a fairer price, as well as the social premiums to invest in the future of their communities. The Fairtrade price applies at the point where the producer organisation sells to the next person in the supply chain (usually an exporter or importer). It is not calculated as a proportion of the final retail price, which is negotiated between the product manufacturer and the retailer.                

Fairtrade bananas are the best selling Fairtrade product with sales topping £150m, an increase of 130%. 1 in 4 bananas sold are now Fairtrade and we eat 3m Fairtrade bananas a day.

Fairtrade coffee sales rose 24% to over £117m

Items made with Fairtrade certified cotton increased from over half a million to just under 9.5m units.

Fairtrade tea rose 24% to just over £30m. And recent commercial developments mean Fairtrade tea should account for a tenth of tea sold in the UK by the end of 2008.

Fairtrade Sales data from 2007

"The FAIRTRADE Mark is an independent consumer label which appears on products as an independent guarantee that disadvantaged producers in the developing world are getting a better deal. 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). Producer organisations that supply Fairtrade products are inspected and certified by FLO. They receive a minimum price that covers the cost of sustainable production and an extra premium that is invested in social or economic development projects. " - Fairtrade Foundation.

Issues surrounding the food we eat are high on the current global agenda. Many of us want to know more about where our food comes from; what's in it, who made it, and how it was made? Buying foods that carry the Fairtrade mark you know that is was produced without mass exploitation of workers. You also know that production of the items is managed in a sustainable way, allowing the workers to plan and improve their future and their children's future. We take for granted that many goods such as tea and coffee are plentiful and relatively cheap, but we often don't consider the toil and hardship of those that produce it. Many of them are just barely scratching out a hand to mouth existence, the prospects for their children are little better. Fairtrade as a trading mechanism offers us as consumers certain guarantees, and producers and their families a hope for the future that may have been absent for generations.