It is important to recognise ethical sourcing goes far beyond paying above the Fairtrade minimum price. The Fairtrade minimum price is a safety net, ensuring producers can cover the cost of sustainable production, even when market prices fall.
When the market price is higher than the Fairtrade minimum price, producers should receive the current market price, or the price negotiated at contract signing. Businesses simply claiming to pay more than the Fairtrade minimum price is not the whole story.
In addition to receiving the market price, Fairtrade premiums also enable the people who grow our staples, such as tea and coffee, to invest in schools, healthcare, infrastructure, and climate resilience. These funds are often used by producers to target salient risks such as child labour or gender inequality and contribute towards farmers and workers earning sustainable livelihoods.
Meeting the standards
Producer organisations must meet rigorous standards for safe working conditions, environmental stewardship, and democratic governance and they are held to account through regular independent audits.
Direct trade has its merits. It can build strong buyer-grower relationships and lead to tailored support. But there are also gaps. Without independent verification, ethical claims rely solely on a buyer’s integrity, a bit like marking your own homework. Smaller producers are often overlooked if they can’t meet specific quality or volume thresholds and often lack negotiating power.
Without the accountability mechanisms, community investments, and worker protections that Fairtrade offers, paying above the benchmark can become more about optics than impact.
As a sector, we must collaborate to address the structural issues underpinning tea supply chains. Fairtrade’s Brew It Fair campaign is a bold call to action to transform the tea industry so that the people behind our daily brew, including farmers, growers, pickers, and processors, can live and work with dignity.
We know we need to reform the tea industry by securing living incomes and wages, advocating for enforced legal accountability for supply chain abuses, boosting climate resilience, and driving collaborative action across governments, businesses, and producers. Paying more is good. Paying fairly, accountably and sustainably is better.
Kerrina Thorogood, partnerships director at the Fairtrade Foundation
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