Thursday, August 27, 2009

Up, Up and Away!


While other sectors of the economy continue to struggle to make ends meet, fair trade is growing and even expanding.
Here are a few of the numbers, from a Reuters piece written by Marcy Nicholson, that showed up in the article I found on forbes.com.
In 2008:
-Fair Trade Certified coffee imports grew 32% to 88 million pounds, from 66 millions pounds in 2007, according to TransFair USA Chief Executive Paul Rice.
-Fair Trade Certified banana imports grew by a whopping 250% to nearly 25 million pounds. Contrast that with 7 million pounds of fair trade banana imports in 2007.
-Fair Trade Certified products sold approximately $1.2 billion in 2008, up from $1 billion in 2007. Globally, retail sales were about $4 billion, Rice said.

There's even more good news. Rice expects banana imports to jump "significantly higher" in 2009 because Sam's Club plans to double its purchases. Look for retail values for fair trade to leap up to the $1.4-$1.5 billion range next year "as major companies continue to look to the long-term trend."
Here's a link to the full article. It delves into more topics--fair trade jeans anyone? They'll be here soon--so check it out.

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