Surge in Fair Trade Imports Helps Small Farmers

Small, local farmers are benefiting from a surge in Fair Trade certified imports to the United States, according to a new report by Fair Trade USA, a third-party certifier of Fair Trade products.

The organization's 2010 Almanac report found that 2010 was a record year in terms of volume of fair trade products imported -- and fair trade coffee was the product imported at the highest volume. In 2010, Fair Trade USA certified 109 million pounds of Fair Trade coffee, which translated to more than $44 million paid out to coffee farmers to date. In addition to coffee, several other product categories saw tremendous increases in 2010, including 67 percent growth in cocoa imports since 2009 and 96 percent growth for Fair Trade citrus.

Consumers are increasingly becoming aware of Fair Trade products -- according to the report, overall consumer awareness of the category has quadrupled in the past five years. This has translated to a growing demand among consumers and retailers for Fair Trade products, and an expansion of new and existing product categories. New Fair Trade products include apparel, green peppers, vodka, and a variety of herbs, spices and extracts. Another product category in which Fair Trade USA predicts strong growth in the coming year is wine. Recently, two Fair Trade wines received 90-plus scores in Wine Spectator.

U.S. businesses increased their Fair Trade purchases in 2010 as well, sourcing certified goods from a total of 878 producer organizations in 70 countries around the world, according to the report.