Fairtrade Firsts for Christmas

This year, Fairtrade has never had more to offer the Christmas shopper. Shoppers can choose everything from stocking-fillers to Christmas pudding in seasonal wrappings with the FAIRTRADE Mark.

"Sales of foods with the FAIRTRADE Mark always rise over the Christmas period," says Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation. "But this year we’re expecting especially good sales with great new festive options on offer. Now we can all treat ourselves to Christmas fare that’s really fair." Fairtrade sales for the year 2002 are projected to top £53m, up from £46m in 2002.

The FAIRTRADE Mark is the UK’s only independent consumer label that guarantees a better deal for marginalised producers in developing countries.

New foods carrying the FAIRTRADE Mark launched for Christmas include:

• Divine Christmas Baubles by the Day Chocolate Company; golden and crimson Christmas tree decorations made with Fairtrade chocolate
• Divine Advent Calendar by the Day Chocolate Company (75 grams); as each door opens and the Christmas story unfolds, there is a heart of Divine chocolate made with Fairtrade chocolate
• Divine Chocolate Coins by the Day Chocolate Company (100 grams); wrapped in golden foil made with Fairtrade chocolate
• The Village Bakery Organic Christmas Pudding (450 grams) made with Fairtrade honey
• The Village Bakery Organic Christmas Cake (750 grams); rich festive fruit cake decorated with Brazil and cashew nuts made with Fairtrade sugar
• The Village Bakery Organic Brandy Butter Shortbread (150 grams); butter biscuits with a festive flavour baked in wood-fired ovens made with Fairtrade sugar
• The Village Bakery Organic Fireside Cookies (150 grams); spiced butter biscuits baked in wood-fired ovens made with Fairtrade sugar
• Co-op Fair Trade Chocolate Cake (450 grams); moist chocolate cake with swirls of chocolate fudge, topped with chocolate flavour chips made with Fairtrade sugar and cocoa

Breaks for weary Christmas shoppers will be made easier too with more coffee-shop chains now selling Fairtrade coffee. The latest to join Costa Coffee and Starbucks is Pret A Manger which in October converted all its filter coffee – 15 percent of its overall sales of coffee – to Fairtrade. This major breakthrough by Pret A Manger makes Fairtrade the mainstay filter coffee.

"It’s not just the festive specials that prove popular at Christmas. Because people are shopping for quality foods at Christmas, they are likely to stock up on the full Fairtrade range – delicious coffees, teas, cocoa, chocolates, snacks and biscuits, sugar, honeys, fruit juices and fresh fruits. By filling our shopping baskets with lots of lovely Fairtrade Christmas goodies, we can all support the efforts of farmers and workers in the developing countries to improve their lives" says Harriet Lamb.

For images of new products or more information, please email eileen.maybin@fairtrade.org.uk or abi.murray@fairtrade.org.uk or telephone Eileen or Abi on 020 7440 7686 or mobile 07770 957 451.

• The new international FAIRTRADE Mark was launched in the UK in the autumn. The new Mark will run concurrently with the original Mark, the big black F, which will be phased out at the end of 2003.
• Currently more than 100 Fairtrade products are available in the UK in the categories of coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, snacks and biscuits, sugar, honey, fruit juice and fresh fruit, and are stocked by independent shops and most major supermarkets.
• Foods carrying the FAIRTRADE Mark are sold in 17 countries through 235 traders and 452 companies. They are sourced from 360 producer groups in 36 countries, representing 4.5 million growers and their families.
• The Village Bakery products are available in Oxfam shops and independent shops, and can be ordered online at www.village-bakery.com.
• The Day Chocolate Christmas products are available through Oxfam stores nation-wide, Co-op stores and in many local and fair trade stores across the country as well as various Christmas gift catalogues. Day’s other products include Divine Milk Chocolate, Darkly Divine and Dubble Milk Chocolate Crispy Crunch Bar.
• The Co-op Fair Trade Chocolate Cake was launched in October 2002 as the latest in a growing range of Own Brand Fair Trade Co-op products. In September the Co-op introduced the first ever supermarket Own Brand Fairtrade Instant Coffee Granules. In November they switched all their Own Brand Chocolate to Fairtrade. Their other products include Own Brand Fair Trade Roast & Ground Coffee and Fairtrade bananas and mangoes (seasonally).

The growing range of FAIRTRADE Mark products includes:

• Cafédirect 5065, Organic Decaffeinated Freeze Dried and Fresh Ground Coffees
• Co-op Own Brand Fair Trade Coffee, Fair Trade Instant Coffee Granules, Chocolate bars, Bananas, Mangoes and Chocolate Cake
• Clipper Fairtrade Teas
• The Day Chocolate Company’s Divine Chocolate, Darkly Divine & Dubble bar, Divine Tree Decorations, Divine Advent Calendar, Divine Chocolate Coins
• Equal Exchange (Organic Coffees, Cocoa, ,Teas, Chocolate Brazil nuts, Honey, and Sugar).
• Fairtrade Bananas (Safeways, Asda, Sainsbury’s, the Co-op, Tesco)
• Fruit Passion Orange, Breakfast and Tropical Juice
• Green & Black's Maya Gold and Cocoa
• AgroFair Fairtrade Mangoes
• Hampstead Tea & Coffee Company Teas
• Johnsons Costa Rica blend Coffee
• Morrison’s Own Brand Fairtrade Tea
• Oxfam Organic Cocoa and Fair Trade Chocolates
• Percol Fairtrade Coffees
• Sainsbury’s Own Brand Fairtrade Tea, Coffee, Bananas, Chocolate and Drinking Chocolate
• Teadirect Tea, Organic Earl Grey and Organic Green Tea with Lemon Grass and Cinnamon
• Traidcraft Teas, Coffees, Geobars, Organic Chocolate bars, Boxed Chocolates, Sugar and Cookies
• Village Bakery Organic Fairtrade Christmas Cake, Organic Fairtrade Christmas Pudding, Fireside Cookies and Brandy Butter Cookies

Fairtrade coffee, tea and other products are also offered by more than 25 nationwide catering suppliers. For contact details, please see the Fairtrade Foundation’s Catering Directory or telephone 020 7405 5942.