Britain's top retailers are increasingly responding to customers' demand for products -- tea, coffee and cotton among them -- that guarantee producers in poor countries will get a fair price for their goods. These goods, called Fairtrade products, are certified by the Fairtrade Foundation.
Britain's biggest retailer, Tesco, along with rivals Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer, are putting Fairtrade products on their shelves, including T-shirts and socks.
"It's purely because of customer demand and (because) customers have been asking us to provide them with more Fairtrade products for the last couple of years," said Olivia Ross, a spokeswoman for Marks and Spencer.
PHOTO: AP
"So many people in the UK are won over by the idea of Fairtrade and want to shop with respect," said Harriet Lamb, executive director of the Fairtrade Foundation.
The Foundation says that sales of Fairtrade products in Britain in 2005 grew 40 percent to ?195 million (NT$11 billion).
The foundation also said that more than 1,500 Fairtrade products are currently on sale in Britain, with products purchased from Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia.
"Fairtrade benefits farmers and workers in developing countries, offering a fair price ... environmental benefits and more secure markets. We want to expand the Fairtrade market in the UK so that still more farmers, workers and their families can benefit," Lamb said.
It seems like stores in Britain are in agreement. Retailers Tesco and Co-op are stocking Fairtrade-certified nuts in British supermarkets for the first time. Britain's third-largest supermarket, Sainsbury's, has meanwhile decided to sell the first baby food to carry the Fairtrade mark -- a banana and mango mix. And it's not just supermarkets. Virgin Trains, run by British tycoon Richard Branson, has announced that it is to offer passengers only Fairtrade hot drinks. (AFP)
為回應消費者需求，英國各大量販店保證茶、咖啡和棉花等產品，在貧窮國家的出產過程均以公平價格交易。這些產品是有公平貿易基金會認證的「公平貿易產品」。
英國最大量販店特易購與幾家競爭大廠 -- 聖柏利和瑪莎百貨，也上架販賣公平貿易產品，如 T-shirts 和襪子等。
瑪莎百貨發言人奧麗薇亞．蘿斯指出：「這完全是因應消費者需求。過去幾年來，消費者不斷要求我們提供更多公平貿易產品。」
公平貿易基金會的執行長哈里特．藍伯指出：「英國有許多民眾贊成公平貿易的作法，希望購物時也能對生產者表示敬意」。
該基金會指出，公平貿易產品在二○○五年的營業額高達一億九千五百萬英鎊（新台幣一百一十億元），相較二○○四年成長四成。
此外，基金會表示，目前有超過一千五百種公平貿易產品在英國出售，這些產品來自非洲、拉丁美洲、加勒比海和亞洲。
藍伯表示：「公平貿易讓開發中國家的農人和工人受惠於公平價格、環境效益和更安定的市場，我們希望在英國拓展公平貿易市場，讓農夫、工人和他們的家人都能從中獲益。」
英國店家似乎有志一同。 特易購和 Co-op 兩家量販店首次在英國超級市場上架販賣有公平貿易認證的堅果類食品。同時，英國第三大超市聖柏利亦決定販賣第一批有公平貿易標誌的嬰兒食品 -- 芒果香蕉口味的果泥。不只超級市場，英國商業大亨 -- 理察．布蘭森旗下經營的維京火車，已宣布只提供乘客有公平貿易標誌的熱飲。 （法新社）
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