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Fair trade AI simulator
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Fair trade
Fair trade is a trade arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable conditions. The fair trade movement advocates paying higher prices to exporters and improving social and environmental standards. The movement focuses in particular on commodities, or products that are typically exported from developing countries to developed countries but are also used in domestic markets (e.g., Brazil, the United Kingdom and Bangladesh), most notably for handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, wine, sugar, fruit, flowers and gold.
Fair trade labelling organizations commonly use a definition of fair trade developed by FINE, an informal association of four international fair trade organizations: Fairtrade International (formerly called FLO, Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International), World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), Network of European Worldshops and European Fair Trade Association (EFTA). Fair trade, by this definition, is a trading partnership based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. Fair trade organizations, backed by consumers, support producers, raise awareness and campaign for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade.
Fair trade certifiers include Fairtrade International, Ecocert, Fair World Project and Fair Trade USA, whose labelling scheme includes independent smallholders and estates for crops. In 2008, Fairtrade International certified approximately (€3.4B) of products.
On 6 June 2008, Wales became the world's first Fair Trade Nation[clarification needed]; followed by Scotland in February 2013. The fair trade movement is popular in the UK, where there are over 500 Fairtrade towns[clarification needed], 118 universities, over 6,000 churches, and over 4,000 UK schools registered in the Fairtrade Schools Scheme[clarification needed]. In 2011, more than 1.2 million farmers and workers in more than 60 countries participated in Fairtrade International's fair trade system, which included €65 million in fairtrade premium paid to producers for use developing their communities.
Some criticisms have been raised about fair trade systems, including that fair trade certification has not led to financial benefit to producers or improvement in working conditions, and that fair trade certification has resulted in greater inequalities in some markets.
A proposed alternative to fair trade is direct trade, which eliminates the overhead costs of the fair trade certification and allows suppliers to receive higher prices closer to the retail value of the end product. Some suppliers use relationships started in a fair trade system to initiate direct sales relationships they negotiate themselves, whereas other direct trade systems are supplier-initiated for social responsibility reasons similar to a fair trade systems.
The first attempts to commercialize fair trade goods in markets in the global north were initiated in the 1940s and 1950s by religious groups and various politically oriented non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Ten Thousand Villages, an NGO within the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), and SERRV International were the first, in 1946 and 1949 respectively, to develop fair trade supply chains in developing countries. The products, almost exclusively handicrafts ranging from jute goods to cross-stitch work, were mostly sold in churches or fairs. The goods themselves had often no other function than to indicate that a donation had been made.
The current fair trade movement was shaped in Europe in the 1960s. Fair trade during that period was often seen as a political gesture against neo-imperialism: radical student movements began targeting multinational corporations, and concerns emerged that traditional business models were fundamentally flawed. The slogan at the time, "Trade not Aid", gained international recognition in 1968 when it was adopted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to put the emphasis on the establishment of fair trade relations with the developing world.
Fair trade
Fair trade is a trade arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable conditions. The fair trade movement advocates paying higher prices to exporters and improving social and environmental standards. The movement focuses in particular on commodities, or products that are typically exported from developing countries to developed countries but are also used in domestic markets (e.g., Brazil, the United Kingdom and Bangladesh), most notably for handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, wine, sugar, fruit, flowers and gold.
Fair trade labelling organizations commonly use a definition of fair trade developed by FINE, an informal association of four international fair trade organizations: Fairtrade International (formerly called FLO, Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International), World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), Network of European Worldshops and European Fair Trade Association (EFTA). Fair trade, by this definition, is a trading partnership based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. Fair trade organizations, backed by consumers, support producers, raise awareness and campaign for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade.
Fair trade certifiers include Fairtrade International, Ecocert, Fair World Project and Fair Trade USA, whose labelling scheme includes independent smallholders and estates for crops. In 2008, Fairtrade International certified approximately (€3.4B) of products.
On 6 June 2008, Wales became the world's first Fair Trade Nation[clarification needed]; followed by Scotland in February 2013. The fair trade movement is popular in the UK, where there are over 500 Fairtrade towns[clarification needed], 118 universities, over 6,000 churches, and over 4,000 UK schools registered in the Fairtrade Schools Scheme[clarification needed]. In 2011, more than 1.2 million farmers and workers in more than 60 countries participated in Fairtrade International's fair trade system, which included €65 million in fairtrade premium paid to producers for use developing their communities.
Some criticisms have been raised about fair trade systems, including that fair trade certification has not led to financial benefit to producers or improvement in working conditions, and that fair trade certification has resulted in greater inequalities in some markets.
A proposed alternative to fair trade is direct trade, which eliminates the overhead costs of the fair trade certification and allows suppliers to receive higher prices closer to the retail value of the end product. Some suppliers use relationships started in a fair trade system to initiate direct sales relationships they negotiate themselves, whereas other direct trade systems are supplier-initiated for social responsibility reasons similar to a fair trade systems.
The first attempts to commercialize fair trade goods in markets in the global north were initiated in the 1940s and 1950s by religious groups and various politically oriented non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Ten Thousand Villages, an NGO within the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), and SERRV International were the first, in 1946 and 1949 respectively, to develop fair trade supply chains in developing countries. The products, almost exclusively handicrafts ranging from jute goods to cross-stitch work, were mostly sold in churches or fairs. The goods themselves had often no other function than to indicate that a donation had been made.
The current fair trade movement was shaped in Europe in the 1960s. Fair trade during that period was often seen as a political gesture against neo-imperialism: radical student movements began targeting multinational corporations, and concerns emerged that traditional business models were fundamentally flawed. The slogan at the time, "Trade not Aid", gained international recognition in 1968 when it was adopted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to put the emphasis on the establishment of fair trade relations with the developing world.
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