The reason for this is the corona pandemic, which led to catering and retail companies having to close temporarily.
This was announced by the Forum Fairer Handel Association on Wednesday at a press conference in Berlin.
Stefanie Diemand
Editor in business.
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Last year, consumers bought products worth 1.8 billion euros - this corresponds to a drop in sales of almost 3 percent compared to the previous year. In total, the fair trade companies sold goods worth 207 million euros. Compared to the previous year, this corresponds to a decrease of 8.4 percent. The so-called world shops in particular suffered heavy losses: in 2020, products worth 72 million euros were sold there, which corresponds to a decrease of more than 13 percent. "In the first lockdown, the world shops had to close," said Matthias Fiedler, Managing Director of Forum Fairer Handel. Even after that, some shops remained closed or had to change their range. The business was therefore “not easy” overall.
The sale of fair trade coffee is more gratifying: sales increased by around 5 percent. The situation was completely different with fair trade bananas, where sales fell for the first time since 1999 - and by 14 percent. The Fairer Handel Forum attributes this to the intense price wars in the retail sector: discounters and supermarkets fought a price war last year, including for bananas. The price for this would have to be paid by the producers in the growers' shops.