Frequently Asked Questions
Click on the questions below or scroll down to learn more about fair trade!
What kinds of goods are available fair trade?
How much money (percent of sale price) do the artisans make?
If Fair trade exists, why are there still problems?
Why don’t the producers complain or refuse to sell for such a low price (non-fair trade setting)?
Q. What is fair trade?
Fair trade is a system that not only aims to pay fair wages, but also to support participatory workplaces; ensure environmental sustainability; supply financial and technical assistance; respect cultural identity, offer public accountability, and educate consumers about the choices that they can make in their regular shopping habits. Fair trade businesses foster long-term and direct relationships with producers in the developing world, because they know these connections are a highly effective way to help producers help themselves. Fair trade is not about charity; it uses a fair system of exchange to empower producers and to create sustainable development. Back to top.
Q. What does that really mean?
First and foremost, fair trade is about offering great products to the public. Back to top.
Second, fair trade is about keeping prices affordable for consumers while returning a higher amount of the producers. This relationship is made by possible, because fair trade retailers and wholesalers typically work directly with artisans and farmers, cutting out the middle men who increase the price at each level – enabling retail products to remain competitively priced in respect to their conventional counterparts, while fairly compensating producers. Back to top.
Finally, fair trade makes a tremendous impact on producer communities. Children’s school fees are paid, nutritional needs met, health care costs covered by producers themselves; the poor, especially women, are empowered; the environmental impact is mitigated; all of these benefits are possible, because fair trade approaches development as a holistic process. Back to top.
Q. Why is fair trade important?
Free trade isn't fair for farmers and artisans, their families, communities, or the environment. Fair trade is. For example, a drastic fall in world coffee prices has pushed millions of coffee farmers and workers into malnutrition and starvation; and losing their jobs and even their farms. Some have even turned to drug cultivation to survive. Most cocoa farmers are so poor they have been using child labor, sometimes even child slaves. Most farmers get only about half of the world price because they are forced to sell their next crop in advance to exploitative middlemen who pay far below the value. Some farmers have also cut down the rainforest to sell the trees for extra money, or to make room for more profitable crops. Artisans face poverty and the loss of culture as they find the need to work in sweatshops. Fair trade ensures better lives by helping people afford health care and keep their kids in school; and by supporting sustainable production. Fair trade producers also set aside funds for community projects like schools and clinics; and for training in quality improvement and sustainable production. Back to top.
Q. What kinds of goods are available fair trade?
Consumers can choose fairly traded clothing, coffee, food, furniture, home décor, house wares, jewelry, tea, toys, personal accessories, and many other products. Back to top.
Q. How much money (percent of sale price) do the artisans make?
Although the percentage varies depending on the product and vendors involved, about 15-30% of the retail price goes to the producer. The rest of the retail price covers the basic expenses of the importer and/or the retailer, such as rent, wages, and other costs of doing business. Back to top.
Q. If Fair trade exists, why are there still problems?
The benefits of fair trade are not reaching all fair trade farmers because there is not sufficient demand for their crops. Producers sell an average of 20% of their crop at fair trade terms, selling the rest through the world market at much lower prices. The same story goes for artisans. That is why we need to build a market for fair trade in the US! Back to top.
Q. Why don’t the producers complain or refuse to sell for such a low price?
Workers may be denied basic rights and prevented from joining trade unions. They therefore struggle to complain about low wages.
If they cannot get a higher price for their goods then producers will sell for whatever they can get in order to avoid starvation. They often cannot afford to shift production to more profitable goods. Trade rules may prevent countries from supporting their producers. Fair trade supports workers and producers in taking control of their situation. Back to top.
Q. I have several jobs after school/whilst at university. Why should I spend my hard-earned money to pay other people more?
We all work hard for our money; but as workers in this country we are relatively well protected, and can ensure our basic rights are respected. Fair trade is about solidarity with workers in the global south who don’t have the same rights. Supporting fair trade is about making sure that they get a fair wage for their work, and making it clear that people in this country and other countries where fair trade products are sold are committed to the concept of, and demand, workers´ rights. Back to top.
In addition, demonstrating to our government and society that people care about fair working conditions and are willing to stand up for them helps guarantee and protect our rights in this country. Back to top.
Q. Fair trade is too expensive: I can’t afford it.
Different people have different amounts of money available to spend and different priorities about how they spend it.
However, when fair trade products are more expensive they tend to be literally only slightly more expensive - not a large amount as a percentage of the total cost of the product. In addition, there is a large variety of fair trade products available at a range of prices. Many cost the same as their equivalent non-fair trade goods.
Goods like chocolate, tea and coffee are now at a lower price because people were prepared to support them when they began and the price has come down as demand grows: this will happen with other products if more people support them.
If people really feel that they can´t afford to buy fair trade products this has to be accepted. Poverty and vastly different levels of wealth are very real issues for many people in the US and highlight some of the problems which we see to a greater extent in developing countries. Fair trade is about remedying some of these types of inequalities.
And most importantly, supporting fair trade is about much more than just buying fair trade products. It is about tackling injustice, and campaigning on this issue is FREE so everyone can be encouraged to do that. Back to top.
Information sourced from www.peopleandplanet.org, www.equalexchange.com, www.fairtradefederation.org