Fairtrade industry bucked recession trend

Date: 23rd February 2010

Small businesses that sell Fairtrade products could be among those to have noticed an upturn in their sales.

Figures from a new report from the Fairtrade Foundation have revealed that the industry has bucked the trends of the recession by recording a 12 per cent year-on-year growth.

According to the data, Fairtrade product sales amounted to almost £800 million in 2009.

Rob Harrison, editor of Ethical Consumer Magazine, said the figures disprove the idea that consumers will focus solely on prices during an economic downturn.

"When the recession began, market researchers were predicting the death of ethical shopping behaviours, because they thought that when people get shorter of money, prices becomes the only thing that matters," he said.

"These figures, along with other sales in other ethical markets, have demonstrated that this isn't the case and that people, far from abandoning ethical shopping decisions, are actually taking them up faster in the recession than they were beforehand."