Italians spent €553 million on products containing at least one Fairtrade-certified ingredient in 2021, considerably higher than their spend on Fairtrade items in 2019 (€320 million).
Fairtrade products popular with Italians include fresh fruits such as bananas and pineapples; coffee; chocolate; breakfast cereals; bars; cookies; dried fruits; cut flowers, and cotton clothing, according to Fairtrade Italia’s annual report ‘The Future is Fair’,
Large scale retail remains the main channel for Fairtrade-certified products.
Fairtrade Offering In Supermarkets
Coop Italia expanded its offering of Fairtrade product references during 2021, while Aldi Italia, in addition to Fairtrade cocoa products, recently introduced bananas to its assortment of Fairtrade products.
Lidl Italia offers a wide range of products made with Fairtrade cocoa, while IN's Mercato extended its range of Fairtrade coffee, tripling sales volumes.
Domestic consumption of Fairtrade cocoa products increased 9% to 8,895 tonnes last year, the report showed, while bananas are still the most sold Fairtrade product by volume (14,100 tons).
Sales of Fairtrade coffee grew 5% to 843 tonnes, while sugar sales were up 10% to 5,158 tonnes, due to the use of sugar as an ingredient within packaged or multi-ingredient products, or in fruit juices.
As a result of Fairtrade product sales in Italy, farmer and worker organisations in Asia, Africa and Latin America received €3.2 million as premium, on top of the stable minimum price recognised for their products.
The commercial director of Fairtrade Italia, Thomas Zulian, expressed satisfaction with the 2021 results, stressing that volumes increased in all product categories. He added that the company was looking to the future with confidence, "despite the complex economic and geopolitical framework".
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Branislav Pekic. For more Supply Chain news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
