Global sales of Fairtrade International-certified products rose 10% in 2014 to reach €5.9 billion, buoyed by higher volumes of bananas, flowers, plants, coffee and cocoa.

In its annual report, the organization said banana volumes had increased 18% year-on-year to reach 439,474MT, of which 57% was conventional and 43% was organic.

Dried and processed fruit volumes were up 42% at 2,053MT, fruit juice volume was 3% higher at 43,883 units of 1,000 liters, and the vegetable category had the second-highest growth rate behind gold at 67% to reach 1,178MT.

In contrast, volume was down 13% for fresh fruit at 11,600MT, made up of 85% organic and 15% conventional. Meanwhile, fairtrade quinoa sales fell 8% to 5,071MT.

The U.K. continued to be the largest market for fairtrade products with total sales of €2 billion for the year, representing a 4% drop which the group attributed to "intensified price competition and deflation in the mainstream grocery sector".

"Many mature Fairtrade markets experienced steady growth, while Swedish and German shoppers significantly increased their ethical purchases, pushing sales up by 37 and 27 percent respectively," Fairtrade International said.

"Encouragingly there was significant growth in newer and emerging markets: Canada and Hong Kong for example experienced increases of 40 and 42 percent respectively."

Australia and New Zealand also had a strong combined growth rate of 29% to hit €211.4 million, while growth was seen in almost all mainland EU markets with notable sales in: France (10% growth to €390.4 million); Switzerland (9% growth to €384.6 million); Ireland (16% growth to €228.66 million); and Austria (15% growth to €149 million).

In Asia, Japan's fairtrade purchases rose 5% to €66.88 million, South Korea bought 10% more at €4.2 million, and India's fairtrade market continued to be much smaller with a value of €654,094, representing growth of 7%.

In Africa, South Africa's sales rose 2% to €2.4 million and the incipient Kenyan market rose 11% to €56,738. In South America, Brazil's level was slightly lower than Kenya's but no growth rate was recorded in the report.

Photo: Fairtrade International

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