SWITZERLAND

The structure of fair trade

Several organizations in Switzerland are involved in importing: EFTA member OS3, Caritas Fairness and some of the wholesale organizations. Since the introduction of the Max Havelaar labelling initiative, a number of commercial importers have - as licensees - imported products according to fair trade criteria.

OS3 is an organization of 20 NGOs, including the three associations of world shops (V3WL - Vereinigung Dritte Welt L�den, Magasins du Monde and Prodotti Terzo Mondo), organized separately for the Italian-, French- and German-speaking parts of the country. OS3 imports from its own overseas partners and from other EFTA members. 11 organizations are known to be involved in wholesaling: the so-called Regionallager or regional depots (in Basel, Bern, Bisschofszell, Buchs, Luzern, Z�rich, Lausanne and Bellinzona), Vanadis, Bioexpress and Biocentre.

There is one fair trade mark for four products (coffee, honey, sugar and cocoa): Max Havelaar. Contracts have been concluded with 40 coffee roasters.

The total number of points of sale is estimated at 1000 world shops and almost 3000 commercial retailers (Max Havelaar products).

Excluding the world shops, the fair trade sector employs 55 persons.

The retail network consists of world shops, individual stores (e.g. stores with organic products), chains of stores (health food stores, drugstores), commercial stores (Jelmoli and independent retailers) and commercial chains of stores (e.g. EPA, Manor, Waro, Globus, Migros, Coop, Volg). 85% of all commercial retailers sell Max Havelaar products.

Information is provided through world shops, working groups, journals, campaigns, catalogues, church bulletins. The supermarket chains give information on Max Havelaar products in their own magazines. OS3 and V3WL both spend 0.12 million ECU on education and marketing; Max Havelaar spends 0.28 million ECU. A problem experienced by many world shops is that they still have a rather dull image. In 1994, a start was made with the internal restructuring and renovation of the corporate identity and corporate design. The success achieved by Max Havelaar has led to more competitiveness, which in turn supports these efforts. There is also a need for better structures (import-wholesaling) and better service to the shops (information, economic incentives). OS3, the world shops and Max Havelaar cooperate in the field of marketing and promotion.

The market for fair trade

Wholesale turnover of OS3 amounted to 6.4 million ECU in 1994 (it increased from 3.7 million ECU in 1989). The product range was reduced from 800 to 600 during these years.

Max Havelaar's wholesale turnover exceeds 15.7 million ECU (this figure includes a portion of the turnover of OS3).

The market share of coffee with a fair trade mark is 5%; the market share of fair trade honey is 8%.

Max Havelaar conducted a study to measure the awareness of fair trade coffee among the general public and found that fairly traded coffee is known by 36% of the costumers. The price difference varies. In many cases, no comparison is possible because of the differences in quality. Higher prices do not seem to be a problem: people buy the products because it makes them feel good and because they seem to represent an air of real taste and origin. Constant availability is not guaranteed in most cases (except Max Havelaar products), which is considered a problem.

Table 1: The structure of fair trade in Switzerland

Table 2: The market for fair trade in Switzerland

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