As events to kickstart the two-week annual campaign entitled Change Today. Choose Fairtrade take place across the UK today, the Fairtrade Foundation reveals an increase of estimated retail sales of Fairtrade products to £493m, a staggering 81% increase on 2006 sales of £273m. Sales have been increasing by over 40 percent year-on-year since 2002.

Fairtrade bananas are the best selling Fairtrade product with sales topping £150m, an increase of 130%. 1 in 4 bananas sold are now Fairtrade and we eat 3m Fairtrade bananas a day.

Fairtrade coffee sales rose 24% to over £117m

Items made with Fairtrade certified cotton increased from over half a million to just under 9.5m whilst Fairtrade tea rose 24% to just over £30m. And recent commercial developments mean Fairtrade tea should account for a tenth of tea sold in the UK by the end of 2008.

The Fairtrade Foundation’s message for Fairtrade Fortnight 2008 is that, whilst sales of Fairtrade products continue to soar, change is still not happening quickly enough for the millions of the world’s poorest farmers who remain trapped in ‘trade poverty’. With 2 billion working people earning less than US$2 a day and many of these producing the products we put in our shopping baskets, the Fairtrade Foundation believes that it is critical to increase the momentum for change through Fairtrade in 2008.

“The fantastic increase in sales of Fairtrade goods in 2007 shows the UK’s public’s huge and growing appetite for Fairtrade,” says Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation. “After years of chipping away, Fairtrade supporters are finally beginning to make some significant impression on the way companies trade. Increasing numbers of people in the UK are buying Fairtrade goods as a practical action everyone can take to help tackle poverty in the developing world. And that’s good news for the seven million people, growers and their families, around the world who benefit from the Fairtrade system, as well as the thousands of people in this country who have been campaigning since the early 1990s to make trade fairer”.

All of the Fairtrade branded products carried in Sainsbury’s stores throughout the UK will feature their own QR codes. When scanned with a smart phone, consumers will be taken to a mobile website where they will learn the various aspects of Fairtrade. The company notes that money generated from selling Fairtrade goods is making a profound difference for businesses and communities around the world. At present, all of Sainsbury’s lines of bananas, roast and ground coffee, plain cotton t-shirts, roses and tea are acquired through Fairtrade means.

In 2010, Sainsbury’s efforts to support Fairtrade brought in over $3 million in investments to the Fairtrade Foundation. This money has been used to improve the quality of life for workers living in impoverish countries. Sainsbury expects to see continued success in this endeavor and believes that this success will be enhanced through the use of QR codes and, in the future, other mobile technologies.

For more information on Fairtrade: http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/