"This is a great achievement for Fairtrade in South Africa," says Mr. Boudewijn Goossens, executive director of FLSA. "Soon local consumers will find more Fairtrade products such as cocoa, sugar and tea. With the support of local businesses and retailers such as Pick `n Pay, we aim to expand the market further in the next few years, bringing in even more benefits to producer organisations and farm workers across South Africa and Africa."

Fairtrade is the most trusted ethical certification system in the world. Fairtrade standards aim to tackle poverty and empower farming communities by ensuring better working and living conditions and providing them with additional income to invest in education, training and improvement of local infrastructure. In addition, Fairtrade certified farms have to implement environmentally friendly practices in order to ensure production is sustainable. 

Fairtrade Label South Africa (FLSA) is the local marketing organisation for Fairtrade and aims to alleviate rural poverty and to empower small-scale farmers and disadvantaged workers primarily in Africa by creating market opportunities for and increasing sales of Fairtrade labelled products in South Africa.

The production and trade of Fairtrade commodities in 2010, both locally and for export, has hugely benefited South African farming communities, with over ZAR10.4 million received in Fairtrade Premium. Over a third of the Premium (37%) was invested primarily into education and training programmes, including skills development projects for farm workers as well as scholarships and other education funding schemes for the youth. The remaining was used mainly in infrastructure improvement (20%) and other social projects, including sport programmes, job creation and health. There are currently over 60 Fairtrade certified producer organisations in South Africa, representing over 12,500 farm workers. 

The growth in Fairtrade sales in South Africa follows the trends in other countries worldwide. Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand has registered average annual growth rates between 38 and 64 percent since 2005, whereas the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK recorded 40 percent increase from 2009, with volumes of Fairtrade chocolate almost quadrupled. In the USA, Fairtrade experienced tremendous growth of over 60% in products such as coffee and cocoa. 

For more information contact:
Arianna Baldo, Marketing Coordinator, Fairtrade Label South Africa
arianna@fairtrade.org.za
www.fairtradesa.org.za