Fair cultivation and trade: Germans buy significantly more fairtrade products

The demand for “Fairtrade” products has recently increased significantly in Germany. Sales – i.e. the weight of all products – increased a total of five percent last year, said the Fairtrade Germany Association in Cologne, which belongs to an international network and takes care of the standard. Such a strong sales plus has not existed in four years.

The sale of coffee, bananas and cocoa developed particularly well last year. The visibility and availability of Fairtrade products in supermarkets, discounters, drugstores and other sales points had increased from the association. “Fair trade sales develop very positively despite the economically challenging situation,” said Fairtrade Germany board member Benjamin Drösel.

According to the information, around every twentieth coffee pack in Germany now has the Fairtrade seal, at Kocao it is about every fifth. According to the information, Germany’s consumers spent 35 euros per capita for Fairtrade products, in total it was around 2.9 billion euros and thus 13 percent more than a year earlier. The price increase was that sales attracted significantly more than sales.

“Currently, the world market prices for raw materials such as coffee or cocoa are very high,” said Fairtrade Germany director Claudiabrück. “Unfortunately, the farmers do not automatically benefit from it.” Some of the high prices were created by stock market speculation and partly by harvest losses. “Fairtrade remains important even in times of high prices.”

In order to be able to glue the Fairtrade seal on their products and thereby have a better status for customers, companies must comply with certain criteria. The goods must be produced fairly and distributed. The seal is intended to lead to the living and working conditions in the cultivation countries – for example in Africa and in Latin America. In addition to coffee, cocoa, bananas and cut flowers, it is also about cotton, juice, tea, rice, honey and sugar.