Harry Hill Launches New FAIRTRADE Mark

Harry Hill, comedian, will share his personal shopping habits at a reception to launch the new international FAIRTRADE Mark to be held in the Contemporary Applied Arts gallery on Thursday, 17 October. Harry Hill, who in February visited cocoa and banana farmers in Ghana supplying the UK Fairtrade market, will talk about how the visit convinced him of the importance of buying Fairtrade foods. (Photographers – Harry Hill will go Fairtrade shopping at 5.30pm from Contemporary Applied Arts Gallery, 2 Percy Street, W1. Underground Tottenham Court Road.)

"By buying Fairtrade products real people in the third world benefit directly - and how often does that happen? When you are struggling with small kids in the supermarket, this new FAIRTRADE Mark is much easier to find", says Harry Hill, reacting to the new international FAIRTRADE Mark designed by leading brand consultancy Interbrand. The symbol of a cheering person indicates the people, both consumers and producers, behind Fairtrade.

The event will be hosted by Fairtrade Foundation patron George Alagiah and speakers include Alison Austin, Senior Manager Sustainability at Sainsbury’s, Harriet Lamb, Director of the Fairtrade Foundation, and Terry Hudghton, Head of Co-op Brand and Corporate Marketing for the Co-operative Group.

Terry Hudghton will unveil the newest Fairtrade product, the Co-op Chocolate Cake. The Co-op recently won Multiple Retailer of the Year Award at the prestigious Retail Industry Awards 2002, recognised as the retail industry ‘Oscars’. The Co-op’s commitment to Fairtrade was highlighted by the judges.

"Fairtrade shows you can have your cake and eat it", Terry Hudghton will say at the launch. "The new FAIRTRADE Mark comes at a momentous time when we can see our objective of bringing Fairtrade into the mainstream actually being realised. We are achieving substantial increases in all of the Fairtrade foods". 40 per cent of the Co-op’s pre-packed banana sales and 20 per cent of its ground coffee sales are Fairtrade.

Alison Austin who visited bananas producers in the Windward Islands supplying Sainsbury's will say: "With the Fairtrade premium, the community are very resourceful - they have diversified into producing coconuts, avocados and citrus. They are also improving the packing sheds and other infrastructure which means an improvement in quality and ultimately more money for the growers. Fairtrade bananas really makes a difference - I have seen it myself. They are also a popular buy - we are now selling around a million Fairtrade bananas a week".

Foods with the FAIRTRADE Mark are sold in 17 countries through 235 traders and 452 companies, being sourced from 360 producer groups in 36 countries, representing 4.5 million growers and their families.

The Fairtrade Foundation is the UK member of Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO), co-ordinated from Bonn, Germany, which operates the unique labelling system with the involvement of producers and traders in setting common international certification standards and processes. The system has always been global, now the FAIRTRADE Mark is too.

The new common Mark is being introduced gradually across the FLO member countries with Belgium and the Netherlands also launching this autumn, and others set to follow suit soon.

"Fairtrade is the food of the future, says Harriet Lamb". "The rapid sales of Fairtrade products show that Fairtrade’s modern, contemporary message is catching on more and more. The new FAIRTRADE Mark is bold and eye-catching - it says we are not going to be shy about pushing the virtues of quality and equity together. It’s a win-win – the producers benefit and we all get to enjoy delicious foods and drinks".

The international FAIRTRADE Mark is being introduced as sales of Fairtrade grow around the world. The projected sales of FAIRTRADE Mark products in the UK for 2002 are £53m - £58m. In 2001, UK sales rose by a staggering 40% to a retail value of £46 million which means consumers spent nearly £1.50 a second on Fairtrade products. Total sales in volume worldwide increased from 39,750 MT (mass tonnes) in 2000 to 48,506 MT in 2001, a 22% increase. 

For more information or to arrange an interview, please email eileen.maybin@fairtrade.org.uk or abi.murray@fairtrade.org.uk or telephone Eileen Maybin or Abi Murray on 020 7440 7686 or mobile 07770 957 451.

Notes to Editor

• The original FAIRTRADE Mark, the big black F, will run concurrently on products in the UK until the end 2003 when all products are expected to carry the new Mark.
• Fairtrade is a trading partnership that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalised farmers and workers in the developing world. The FAIRTRADE Mark shows that producers have received a better price for their produce. Regular inspection and audit ensures the producer group meet the Fairtrade standards of a democratic structure where the Fairtrade premiums are used for development programmes to improve living conditions or the working infrastructure.
• The Fairtrade Foundation was set up at the beginning of the 1990s by agencies including Christian Aid, Oxfam, and the World Development Movement to respond to the human consequences of collapsing world commodity prices. The first FAIRTRADE Marked product, Green and Black’s Maya Gold chocolate, appeared on the supermarket shelf in 1994.

Currently there are over 100 Fairtrade products in the UK in the categories of coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, snacks and biscuits, sugar, honey, fruit juice and fresh fruit, stocked by independent shops and most major supermarkets. The growing range includes

• Cafédirect 5065, Organic Decaffeinated Freeze Dried and Fresh Ground Coffees
• Co-op Own Brand Fair Trade Roast & Ground Coffee and Instant Granules, Bananas, Mangoes and Chocolate
• Clipper Fairtrade Teas
• The Day Chocolate Company’s Divine chocolate, Darkly Divine & Dubble bar
• Equal Exchange (Organic Coffees, Teas, Chocolate Brazil nuts, Honey, and Sugar)
• Fairtrade Bananas (Asda, the Co-op, Safeways, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Tesco)
• Fruit Passion Orange, Breakfast and Tropical Juice (Gerber Foods Soft Drinks Ltd)
• Green & Black's Maya Gold chocolate and Cocoa
• AgroFair Fairtrade Mangoes
• Hampstead Tea & Coffee Co. 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 or Cinammon
• Traidcraft Geobars, Teas, Organic Chocolate bars, Sugar and Cookies

Fairtrade coffee, tea and other products are also offered by more than 25 nationwide catering suppliers .