Fair Trade Yearbook 1995

Fair Trade Yearbook 1995
European Fair Trade Association

[Table of Contents] [List of EFTA Members] [Introduction]

The Fair Trade Yearbook 1995 is a publication of the European Fair Trade Association (EFTA), an alliance of eleven fair trade organisations in nine European countries. Through fair trade, the EFTA importers provide direct support to producer organisations in the Third World.

Information:

EFTA secretariat
Witmakersstraat 10
6211 JB Maastricht
The Netherlands
Phone: (+31) 43 325-6917
Fax: (+31) 43 325-8433
Email: efta@antenna.nl

Contributers to the Yearbook:

Rob Bartels, Fair Trade Organisatie (The Netherlands)
Yvonne Fijneman, Landelijke India Werkgroep (The Netherlands)
Gert de Gans, Oikos (The Netherlands)
Mark Huis in 't Veld, EFTA/Fair Trade Organisatie
Ab Kerssies, Solidaridad (The Netherlands)
Helga Kirchhoff, Gepa (Germany)
Jenny Pryke, CIIR (UNited Kingdom)
Alfons Ullenberg, BUKO Agrar Koordination (Germany)
Bruni Weiáen, ASW (Germany)
Hermann-J. Wirtz, Gepa (Germany)
Luuk Zonneveld, EFTA

Editorial Committee:

Brid Bowen, EFTA
Carole Crabb‚, Magasins du Monde-Oxfam (Belgium)
Myriam Vanderstichele, ICDA (Belgium)
Cornelia Wills-Hasenkamp (Germany)
Luuk Zonneveld, EFTA

Translation:

Coordination and editing:

Mark Huis in 't Veld, EFTA/Fair Trade Organisatie

Design:

Griet Wittoek, Drongen, Belgium

Printing:

Druk in de weer, Gent, Belgium

Reproduction of parts of the text is permitted, provided that the source is cited.

EFTA, october 1995.

Introduction

'People toil like animals, no holidays, never a day off. Because children are not allowed to go to the toilet during their work, they are affected by kidney disorders. Do you want to wear clothes that have been produced under such circumstances?' Rosaline Costa of the Asian American Free Labor Institute in Bangladesh acknowledges that the textile industry is of major importance for the future of her country. 'But my point is: not in this way, not by trampling on little children. Moreover, wages and terms of employment of the many women employed in the textile industry must be improved. It would be very good if the West accepted only clothing that has been produced in a decent way...'

The above example is illustrative of the trade between North and South. Unfortunately, it is not an isolated example. What is true for the textile workers in Bangladesh, is also true for coffee growers in Guatemala, tea pickers in Sri Lanka, leather workers in India and banana plantation workers in Honduras: they work for a pittance under conditions which are often gedrading or they may be totally dependent on middlemen or creditors to sell their products. Reason enough for EFTA, the European Fair Trade Association, to publish a Fair Trade Yearbook. Its primary aim is to show what is 'unfair' about the trade between North and South. But, obviously, the Yearbook also describes how fair trade contributes to improving North-South trade.

EFTA is an association of 11 fair trade organizations from 9 European countries. They are the pioneers of fair trade in Europe, with several decades' experience in importing fairly traded products. Through trade, the EFTA importers provide direct support to producer organizations in the Third World: fair trade, equal exchange, a good price for a good product. Where necessary, they offer technical assistance to ensure continuity in their trading relations. Turnover in the fair trade sector increases year by year, and as a result, so does the impact of fair trade activities in the Third World. In 1994, total fair trade turnovers in Europe exceeded 200 million ECU. There are now about 800 overseas producer partners. Overall, the European fair trade sector reaches some 800,000 families, or 5 million persons, in the Third World.

Subsidized dumping of European sugar surpluses on the world market costs the Philippines alone 50 million dollars in lost export earnings per year. This is especially shocking when the average life expectancy of cane cutters in this Asian country is only 30 years. Equally shocking is that the import tariffs imposed by the European Union make the fairly imported sugar from the Third World totally uncompetitive. On top of the US$ 550 per tonne the fair trade organizations pay to small sugar farmers - twice as much as world market prices - the EU levies US$ 720 per tonne in import duties...

This Autumn, the European Union is to decide whether or not to permit the use of cocoa butter substitutes in chocolate. If 5% non-cocoa fat is to be allowed in chocolate, as is already the case in a number of European countries, the International Cocoa Organization expects a 20% drop in the demand for cocoa in the long term. The cocoa price, already rather low, would fall by a similar percentage, and export earnings of the cocoa-producing countries by as much as 25%. Hundreds of thousands of cocoa producers in Africa, Asia and Latin America run the risk of losing their livelihood...

In overall world trade, however, the share of fair trade is relatively modest. Tens of millions of coffee farmers, tea pickers, cotton weavers and craftsmen still find themselves excluded. The fair trade sector wants to stand up for these producers and seeks to convince consumers, politicians and the business community of the need for better conditions in the trading relations with the Third World. In EFTA's view, the welfare of producers should be of major concern when importing products from developing countries. That requires not only political measures, such as removing barriers to trade and setting minimum social conditions for products from the South, but also a different attitude among the business community.

The Fair Trade Yearbook is the first trade yearbook written from a fair trade perspective. It provides updated information on (fair) trade between North and South, based to a significant extent on the eleven EFTA partners' everyday trading experience. This Yearbook consists of two parts. Part I deals with fair trade as such, describing what exactly fair trade is, how it has developed and what parties are involved in it (Chapter 1). Chapter 2 shows how fair trade operates in the Third World: the producers, the methods employed, the impact, as well as the growing importance of providing (technical) assistance to producers. The yearbook also reports on the current state of affairs in European fair trade, describing the latest developments in sales, campaigns and lobbying (Chapters 3 and 4). Part II analyses a number of the Third World's most important traded products: coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, bananas, textiles and leather. These are all products which are imported by the fair trade organisations. For each product, an impression is given of the position of producers in the countries of origin, world market trade, the relevant national and international trade regulations, and the difference fair trade can make.

List of Members of the European Fair Trade Association

As of December 1995

Austria:	EZA Dritte Welt Plainbachstrasse 8 5101 Bergheim phone: (+43) 662 52178 fax 52586 Email: eza3welt@magnet.at EZA's WWW Site
Belgium:	Magasins du Monde-Oxfam Rue E. Michiels 1180 Bruxelles phone: (+32) 2 3320110 fax 3321888
	Oxfam Wereldwinkels Nieuwland 36 9000 Gent Phone (+32) 9 2230161 fax 250478 Email: office@owwbel.knooppunt.be
France:	Solidar'Monde Rue Berthie Albrecht 86 94400 Vitry s/Seine phone: (+33) 1 45736543 fax 45736542
Germany:	Gepa Talstrasse 20 58332 Schwelm phone: (+49) 2336 91820 fax 977599
Italy:	C.T.M. Via Macello 18 39100 Bolzano phone: (+39) 471 975333 fax 977599 Email: c/o a_vaccaro@link-bz.comlink.apc.org See also the Italian fair trade home page or subscribe to The Fair Trade LISTSERVER
The Netherlands:	Fair Trade Organisatie Beesdseweg 5 P.O. Box 115 4100 AC Culemborg phone: (+31) 345 513744 fax 521423 Email: fairtrade@antenna.nl
Norway:	Alternativ handel Kampengt 16 P.O. Box 2802 Toyen 0608 Oslo 6 phone:(+47) 22 685900 fax 685950 Email: a-trade@euronetis.no
Spain:	Intermon, Marques de Dos Aguas 5 46002 Valencia phone: (+34) 6 3524193 fax 3525772
	IDEAS Llano de las Maravillas s/n, 11130 Chiclana phone: (+34) 56 230380 fax 230380
Switzerland:	O.S.3 Byfangstrasse 19 Postfach 69 CH-2552 Orpund phone: (+41) 32 553155 fax 553159
United Kingdom:	Oxfam Trading 274 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7DZ phone: (+44) 1865 313129 fax 313163 Email: oxbridge@gn.apc.org
	Traidcraft Plc Kingsway Tyne & Wear NE11ONE phone: (+44) 191 4910591 fax 4822690 Email: traidcraft@gn.apc.org or: traidcraft@globalnet.co.uk Traidcraft WWW Site