The fair trade hypocrisy (1/2)

The press speaks more and more about fair trade: the products resulting from fair trade are new actors in the retailing sector. The products are more expensive than the products known as "traditional". But is this really in order to remunerate better the producers?

At the beginning, the fair trade starts from a good attention because it was created to remunerate better the producers so that they can continue to remain. But this idea will generate certain threats. Indeed, the low volume of production involves an increase in the transport costs because it is impossible to make sufficient economies of scale. Moreover, there are other costs compared to the traditional products like the costs of certification and communication.

It is noticed that the consumer is completely manipulated because when he buys a fair trade product, he pays a symbol; symbol which is approximately 10% more expensive than a traditional product. According to some studies of the French Agricultural Research for Developing countries (CIRAD), "the share of the price of a fair trade product which is allocated to the producer… is weaker than for traditional products".

Finally, we can wonder if either the consumer is not informed of this hypocrisy, or it knows it, but it wants to give itself a clear conscience.

Next week, I will give another view about the fair trade hypocrisy. This time it will be about the professionals of the retailing sector.