Fair Trade, The Fairest Of Them All

Fair Trade is a complex trading partnership which seeks greater equity in international trade by creating closer relationships between the consumers and the producers from the geopolitical North and South. From its shy beginnings as an alternative means of selling craftwork in charity shops, Fair Trade products have become highly accessible to the consumers in Europe and the United States. While sales remain fairly low in global terms, the growth of the Fair Trade market has been phenomenal: in 2008, global Fair Trade sales reached 2.9 billion euros, growing at a rate of 22% per annum. In 2009, this percentage reached 37%. Fair Trade products occupy between 0,5-5% of all sales in Europe and the United States. By 2010, over 1.5 million disadvantaged producers were directly benefiting from Fair Trade, while an additional 5 million were enjoying the fruits of infrastructure and development projects financed through the Fair Trade system. In order to make these possible, Fair Trade has incorporated a dynamic series of products, standards and certification systems, new actors, new political and organizing alliances and more and more complex governmental arrangements.