Chocolate Report PDF - Fair Trade Barrie

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Join our campaign
The Co-op is proud to be associated
with Kuapa Kokoo and pleased to be
able to contribute to the growth of
the co-operative and the lives of its
growers by switching all our Co-op
block chocolate to Fairtrade.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Brian Moody
We have selected the best of the
best, because we want people to buy
it again and again. But even with the
Co-op contribution, in 2002/2003 the
Fairtrade element of cocoa exported
from Kuapa Kokoo will account for
only a small proportion of the total
volume they produce. What can we
do to increase it?
Ultimately it is UK consumers who will
make the real difference - every time
they purchase - by choosing Fairtrade
chocolate instead of their normal brand.
Consumers can also put pressure on
the major chocolate manufacturers -
curiously, none of whom has a
Fairtrade product - to switch all or part
of their cocoa supply to Fairtrade.
Sophi Tranchell, managing director of
The Day Chocolate Company, the UK
arm of Kuapa Kokoo, works within the
chocolate industry. She is sometimes
disappointed by the reactions she
gets from management when she
proposes a switch to Fairtrade:
I’m often told by the industry that
they don’t think consumers care
about the exploitation of growers
and the pitiful conditions in which
they live and work. The growth in
popularity of our own products
proves they are wrong - the challenge
is persuading manufacturers
of it. If enough people wrote to
these companies and said they
cared, then I think they’d sit up
and take notice.
The Co-op is calling on chocolate
manufacturers to make at least
one product in their range carry the
FAIRTRADE Mark. And we are calling
on retailers to follow our lead with
their own-label block chocolate.
If you like chocolate, why not join our
campaign by writing to the BCCCA
(the Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and
Confectionery Alliance), the industry
body for chocolate manufacturers,
to request that it asks its members
to produce Fairtrade?
The address is on our website
(www.co-op.co.uk/chocolate) where
you will also find a template letter
that can be personalised, printed
and posted (or downloaded and
e-mailed) to the BCCCA.
Or write to the manufacturer of your
favourite chocolate bar - the address
will be on the wrapper.
The more Fairtrade chocolate we eat,
the more cocoa growers will benefit.
Pa pa paa!
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