Tate and Lyle go Fairtrade

Manufacturing giant Tate & Lyle's decision to switch its retail cane sugars range to Fair Trade has been welcomed by development campaigners and church aid agencies - but the need to move the social justice agenda in economics remains, they say.

- Article

After posting below I went to my google homepage and saw this story on my news reader. I have always said that the victories for fairtrade will not come with niche companies, but with normal suppliers of coffee, tea, chocolate, or in this case sugar, going over to fairtrade.

This is different to Nestlé's partners blend, because that was still only a niche product, so that they could say they had a product available, and also that consumers didn't have an appetite for fairly traded goods. Greenwashing indeed.

It is even better than Taylors of Harrogate, who have a number of fairtrade lines, and who, even when not officially marked, better than most in the tea industry. (Because the production of higher quality tea is always going to depend on smaller plantations with better practices, and because of good management and careful puchasing).

The taking over of a whole line means that large numbers of consumers will accidentally buy fairtrade, hopefully learning something as a result. The concept will be demonstrated as commercially viable, and consumers who would buy fairtrade if they could are more likely to do so.

So, if you just buy normal sugar, I would suggest buying Tate and Lyle, and partnering it with some nice fairtrade tea, little of which is better than the Taylors stuff, but I can also recommend Clipper (for their black teas, less so their green and aromatic stuff).

Links:
Ekklesia Story
Tate and Lyle - Press release
Fairtrade Foundation
Fairtrade sales approach £500m