fairtrade products

[purplefish]

why are fairtrade products (tea, coffee, chocolate etc) cheaper than non-fair trade products? especially in the co-op, fairtrade chocolate bars are at least 30p cheaper than other chocolate, i would've thought they would've been more expensive as the producers are getting more money for their produce, does anybody know why this isn't the case?

[ames]

i believe it is for two reasons - a) because they are supposed to be more honestly priced - i.e. dont add excessive profit margins and b) because they want people to buy them instead of other products for the sake of the farmers....

[natalie_1982]

I was always under the impression that Fairtrade products are more expensive.  

I read an article about AMT a while ago, who have just changed to using only Fairtrade coffee, and it was explaining that is why all their prices were going up.

[magicdice]

and you have to pay extra if you want them to use fairtrade coffee at costa.

i'd say it's ethics over profits, and also encouraging people to buy fairtrade. although similar is true with recycled paper notepads - sometimes these are more expensive!

[ann_h]

They'll be cheaper than big brands because of no ADVERTISING. A Wonka bar 200g is 1.09, same size supermarket own brand is 51p and very nice too. Presumably Fairtrade is somewhere in between and also yummy.

[nicola_red]

I've also found fairtrade coffee to be more expensive, both in coffee shops and supermarkets.  i still buy it though.

[rja211077]

In my experience FT products are always slightly more expensive

to pick a random example from tesco.com, their FT orange juice is 79p/litre, standard is 57p - quite a premium (but i still pay it)

- of course you have to compare like with like - i'm sure a fairtrade standard product would be cheaper than a luxury non-FT version

I recently noticed that Costa offered a FT option and was charged the same price (Heathrow T1, Gate 5, trivia fans) though it comes pre-ground rather than as whole beans and the staff reckoned it didn't taste as good (but it seemed fine to me).