Fairtrade Fortnight flags a better deal

Next week sees the start of Fairtrade Fortnight, the annual campaign to encourage consumers to buy products that ensure a better deal for growers in developing countries. And when it comes to Fairtrade wine, the word still needs to get about. Only 0.3 per cent of wine sold in the UK is Fairtrade, according to importer Nicholas Ingham of Equality Wines, in spite of the fact that 51 per cent of the population now recognise the Fairtrade mark.

However, the figure for Fairtrade wine imported into the UK is growing. It represented only 80,000 cases in 2004 but by last year an estimated 225,000 cases were imported, according to Nicholas.

One retailer that is certainly doing its bit to get consumers acquainted with Fairtrade wines is the Co-op. The supermarket chain has the largest own-label range of these wines of any retailer and was the first to introduce ones from Argentina to the UK. Perhaps not surprisingly, therefore, the company has just won the timely accolade of Own Label Range of the Year in the Drinks Retailing Awards for its Fairtrade offering. And to flag the Fairtrade Fortnight, the Co-op is doing even more to encourage consumers to give Fairtrade a go, by taking 20 per cent off the bottle price of not only all of its own-label range, but also all branded Fairtrade wines too.