display

Cologne (dpa) - The corona pandemic has also left its mark on the sale of fair trade products.

For the first time in 20 years, sales of goods with the “Fairtrade” seal in Germany fell in 2020, as the Transfair association reported on Wednesday.

For around 1.95 billion euros, “Fairtrade” products such as coffee, bananas, cocoa and textiles were sold last year, around 5 percent less than in 2019. In the previous years, Transfair had mostly reported double-digit growth rates.

The association grants dealers and producers the right to use the green-blue-black logo in return for license fees.

Transfair boss Dieter Overath sees the decline in sales only as an interruption in the upward trend for fair products.

"We will not only iron out the dent, we will get a clear plus this year," he said at an online press conference.

That was already evident in the first few months of the current year.

display

The sale of textiles fell significantly last year due to the temporary closure of fashion stores.

Around 15.5 million items of clothing and other textiles with the “Fairtrade” seal were sold, 30 percent less than in the previous year.

There was also a big minus for bananas.

112,000 tons were still sold, 14 percent less than in 2019. The reason is the massive price war in the supermarkets.

In contrast, sales of coffee increased by 6 percent to 24,000 tons.

Fair trade coffee thus has a market share of 5 percent in Germany, said Overath.

While retail sales rose by 17 percent, the out-of-home sector fell by 34 percent because, among other things, company canteens and university canteens were closed.

Fair trade has grown regularly in Germany over the past few years.

However, it still only accounts for a small proportion of total trading turnover.

According to Transfair, consumers spent an average of around 23 euros on “Fairtrade” products last year.

There are several seals for products whose suppliers value fair wages and better working conditions.

“Fairtrade” is by far the most widespread.

display

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210505-99-477772 / 2

Notification Transfair

Information on the Fairtrade label