Stephen Knapp, Fairtrade Australia & New Zealand CEO, said that the outstanding sales growth for products bearing the ethical label was matched by a hike in Australian consumer awareness of the Fairtrade label.
The latest data from market analysts, Mobium, shows an increase in Australian shoppers’ recognition of the label from 23 per cent in September 2009 to 37 per cent in November 2010.
Knapp said the soaring sales for Fairtrade chocolate in the Australian market in particular was helped by the introduction last year of new Fairtrade Certified blocks from Cadbury, Alter Eco and Aldi.
The number of Australian businesses licensed to use the Fairtrade label on their products rose 17 per cent to almost 200 last year, he added, making the swap to the fairly traded products easier for consumers.
2009 saw several major confectionery manufacturers made commitments to source fairly traded ingredients for their brands, including Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, Green & Black’s and Nestlé’s Kit Kat, as well as ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s.
The Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) recently stressed that there is enough volume of Fairtrade cocoa available to support more large brands switching product lines to Fairtrade.
A spokesperson for the FLO told this publication previously that confectionery manufacturers can more easily secure large volumes of Fairtrade cocoa by offering Fairtrade cooperatives a long-term commitment and pre-financing.
"This helps Fairtrade cooperatives to have the funds available to pay farmers immediately upon buying the cocoa from farmers, which builds trust between the cooperative and farmers and strengthens farmers’ commitment to sell their cocoa to the cooperative,” the FLO spokesperson told ConfectioneryNews.com.