Global Fair Trade Development | Fair Trade Hong Kong Foundation 香港公平貿易聯盟

Global Fair Trade Development

The earliest traces of Fair Trade date from the 1940s when United States began buyng needleword from Puerto Rico.

1940s	United States began buying needlework from Puerto Rico
1950s	Oxfam UK started to sell crafts made by Chinese refuges in Oxfam shops
1958	The first formal Fair Trade shop was opened in the US
1969	The first “Third World Shop” was opened selling Fair Trade goods and actively promoting Fair Trade movement
1988	The first Fair Trade label, Max Havelaar, was launched in Netherlands, which set a series of Fair Trade standards; within a year, coffee with the label had a market share of almost three percent
1989	World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), formerly the International Fair Trade Association, was set up to strengthen the credibility of Fair Trade organizations and their products
1997	Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) was created. FLO is responsible for setting international standards, for certifying production and auditing trade
2002	FLO launched a new International Fairtrade Certification Mark to improve visibility of the Mark on the public WFTO launched World Fair Trade Day (WFTD), which falls on the second Saturday of May each year
2004	FLO-CERT was created to inspect and to certify producer organizations and audits traders WFTO launched a fair trade certification which identifies registered fair trade organizations worldwide
2004 – 2007	Fair Trade annual sales grew an average of 40%
2007 – 2008	Fair Trade cotton and tea sales doubled
2008	Fair Trade sales increased by 22%, reached ?2.9 billion
2009	Fair Trade sales increased by 15%, reached ?3.4 billion; roughly 27,000 Fair Trade products are sold in over 70 countries More than 1.2 million farmers and workers make a good, sustainable living through Fair Trade About 2700 companies are licensed to use the Fairtrade Certification Mark
Till 2010	Many international brands and producers started to use Fair Trade ingredients, such as Cadbury, Pacific Coffee, Starbucks, Marks & Spencer, Ben & Jerry’s, Green & Black’s, Lush etc. There are 104 WFTO Fair Trade retailers/wholesalers in Asia – there is only one so far in China: handicrafts made in Yunnan. For FLO, there are 2 coffee traders and 1 tea trader in Hong Kong, 10 tea traders and producers in mainland China, and 1 coffee trader in Taiwan.

(Resources from FLO, WFTO, Oxfam)