Alliance and Fairtrade International are collaborating with fellow sustainability certifier Utz Certified and the Ethical Tea Partnership to work out long-term solutions to these agrochemical issues.
IS IT WORTHWHILE? For retailers and others near the end of the supply chain,
products certified for sustainability—coffee, tea or anything else—oſten come at a premium, which requires a cost-benefit analysis. However, with tea as with coffee, high market prices have temporarily removed this factor. "In the U.S., the great majority of the Fair Trade certified tea
is also organic certified and generally classified as high-quality specialty tea," Byers wrote. "These teas aren't cheap, but they are similarly priced to non-certified teas of the same quality." Byers says market prices in recent years have consistently
been above the Fair Trade minimum, but consumers still pay "a small premium." This money goes for payments to groups of smaller tea farms, and worker committees on larger ones, to improve working conditions. These premiums can constitute up to 30% over the market price and amount to more than $6 million a year. SCR
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2000/01 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Source: Fair Trade USA Tea Report
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www.plasticparameters.com Fill in 63 on Reader Service Form or visit www.OneRs.hotims.com/35099-63 Fill in 64 on Reader Service Form or visit www.OneRs.hotims.com/35099-64 November 2011 • www.specialty-coffee.com | 21
65,261 86,706 95,669
180,310 517,500
629,985 1,134,993
1,372,261 1,372,157
1,889,259
