Chocolate Report PDF - Fair Trade Barrie

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But the Fairtrade banana currently only accounts for 1.4 per cent of the total volume of bananas sold in the UK. Last year, a total of 700,000 tonnes of bananas were sold. Fairtrade bananas accounted for 10,000 tonnes of these - 1.7 per cent value of the UK banana market in 2001. Compare this to Co-op sales. Eleven per cent of its total banana sales last year were Fairtrade, and Fairtrade bananas made up 40 per cent of the Co-op’s pre-packed banana sales. If all retailers were to make the same commitment, the amount of Fairtrade bananas sold in the UK would increase from 10,000 tonnes to 64,000 tonnes. Meanwhile, in the most mature of Fairtrade markets - the ground coffee sector, the Co-op has also enjoyed unprecedented success, where Fairtrade now accounts for some 20 per cent of all Co-op ground coffee sales. Setting up a Fairtrade co-operative creates a virtuous circle: getting a decent, stable return for their labour means growers can plan for their own future and that of their children, with less vulnerability to human exploitation and natural disaster. New co-operatives are being set up, but the pace is slow: the barrier is consumer demand for Fairtrade produce in the rich countries. The more demand there is for Fairtrade, the more Fairtrade co-operatives there will be. What is needed is for consumers to choose the Fairtrade product over the alternative. The Co-op believes retailers in the UK could do much more to encourage PHOTOGRAPHY: Brian Moody and accelerate consumer demand and harness buying power to source more Fairtrade produce. We ourselves are stepping up our own commitment through a new and radical initiative, designed to take Fairtrade out of the niche and into the mainstream. The focus of this initiative is on chocolate - and the cocoa used to produce it. We are switching the sourcing of the entire range of Co-op block chocolate so that all the cocoa will be exclusively from Fairtrade growers. Why chocolate and cocoa? PHOTOGRAPHY: Brian Moody PHOTOGRAPHY: Brian Moody 9
3 The case for cocoa Slaves to chocolate 10 On a per capita basis, the UK consumes more confectionery than any other country. Of this, chocolate accounts for 70 per cent. Expenditure on chocolate alone was £3.8 billion in 1999 - 7 per cent of total consumer spending on all food. We spent on average £63.13 each on chocolate that year, or £1.20 per person per week. Compare this to the average Ghanaian farmer’s income of around £167 per annum. That’s less than most UK families spend on chocolate in a year. Love of chocolate is a real incentive for consumers to use their purchasing power to effect change. But there is a pressing reason that goes beyond economics to basic human rights. PHOTOGRAPHY: Brian Moody In August 2000, a film was broadcast on Channel 4, which showed young Malian men working in conditions of slavery on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast. This was followed in Easter 2001 by a report from the BBC on the same issue. The issue drew widespread international attention both in Europe and the USA. In particular, the chocolate industry was asked to comment on labour conditions at its cocoa suppliers and to justify its working and sourcing methods. This created a problem for most of the chocolate industry as they had very little contact with the growers of the cocoa There were two main results: and normally purchased supplies at a West African port or on the cocoa futures market in the USA and Europe. The industry was forced to admit that it had little control over the labour conditions on the farms,or of monitoring them. The resulting public pressure and bad publicity had a direct impact both on the chocolate industry and the cocoasupplying countries in West Africa, and this led to rapid discussions at industry and government level concerning changes required in the industry. In September 2001, a Protocol was signed by the main representatives of the global cocoa and chocolate industry. In November 2001, the industry and the US Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Free the Slaves, the National Consumers’ League and the Child Labor Coalition, as well as the IUF (International Union of Food, Agriculture, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations) issued a Joint Statement. It extended the Protocol commitments by the industry: - to eliminate all forms of illegal child and forced labour in the production of cocoa; - to investigate working conditions in the industry; - to establish a foundation to oversee and fund work to eliminate such labour; - and, by 2005, to provide a sustainable method of verifying working conditions in the industry. This Joint Statement was witnessed by the ILO (International Labour Organisation). An agreement between West and Central African countries to co-operate closely in the prevention of cross border trafficking of children within the region.
Page 2 and 3: Just about everyone loves chocolate
Page 4 and 5: Contents 1 Globalisation: a dirty w
Page 6 and 7: Conditions vary depending on countr
Page 8 and 9: Co-op track record on Fairtrade The
Page 12 and 13: Any serious initiative against chil
Page 14 and 15: ack into the community, into projec
Page 16 and 17: 5 Join our campaign The Co-op is pr
Page 18: Acknowledgements The Co-op would li

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