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Two of the UK's biggest supermarket groups are to stock only Fairtrade-certified bananas.
In separate announcements, Sainsbury's said it would make the change in June and Waitrose confirmed it would switch 'some time this year'.
The Fairtrade Foundation said the decision by Sainsbury's, Britain's second-largest food retailer with 17 per cent of the supermarket trade, amounted to the biggest-ever commitment by a single company on Fairtrade.
Sainsbury's sells 2000 tonnes of bananas, or about 10 million individual bananas, every week. It will buy five times as many Fairtrade bananas from growers as it does at present, more than doubling the volume of Fairtrade bananas sold in Britain.
Producers will receive a stable price covering their production costs, plus a 'Fairtrade premium' of $1 per box, which should increase their annual revenues by $3million-$5million (£1.54m-£2.5m), much of which will be used to build schools and other community facilities.
Despite the premium, the UK consumer will not pay more. Sainsbury's told EP it will 'take the hit' of increased costs as part of a long-term commitment to ethical trading.
The Fairtrade Foundation says the Sainsbury's and Waitrose commitments, together with expected growth elsewhere in the UK, mean the Windward Islands in the Caribbean could be selling all their bananas under Fairtrade terms by the end of this year. Farming groups in Colombia will now sell their bananas for the first time to the UK Fairtrade market.
UK sales of Fairtrade products have doubled every two years since 2000, when Fairtrade bananas were first sold in Britain.
In separate announcements, Sainsbury's said it would make the change in June and Waitrose confirmed it would switch 'some time this year'.
The Fairtrade Foundation said the decision by Sainsbury's, Britain's second-largest food retailer with 17 per cent of the supermarket trade, amounted to the biggest-ever commitment by a single company on Fairtrade.
Sainsbury's sells 2000 tonnes of bananas, or about 10 million individual bananas, every week. It will buy five times as many Fairtrade bananas from growers as it does at present, more than doubling the volume of Fairtrade bananas sold in Britain.
Producers will receive a stable price covering their production costs, plus a 'Fairtrade premium' of $1 per box, which should increase their annual revenues by $3million-$5million (£1.54m-£2.5m), much of which will be used to build schools and other community facilities.
Despite the premium, the UK consumer will not pay more. Sainsbury's told EP it will 'take the hit' of increased costs as part of a long-term commitment to ethical trading.
The Fairtrade Foundation says the Sainsbury's and Waitrose commitments, together with expected growth elsewhere in the UK, mean the Windward Islands in the Caribbean could be selling all their bananas under Fairtrade terms by the end of this year. Farming groups in Colombia will now sell their bananas for the first time to the UK Fairtrade market.
UK sales of Fairtrade products have doubled every two years since 2000, when Fairtrade bananas were first sold in Britain.
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