BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – Despite the inflation-related reluctance to buy in many areas, sales of fair trade products continued to rise in the past year. “For the first time, total sales of fair trade products exceeded the two billion euro threshold,” reported Matthias Fiedler, Managing Director of the Forum Fairer Handel (FFH), on Tuesday in Berlin. Overall, consumers in Germany would have spent almost 2.2 billion euros on fairly traded food, textiles, cosmetics, flowers and handicrafts in 2022 – an increase of 11.5 percent compared to the previous year.
“Even considering the high inflation last year, this is a solid development,” said Fiedler. Since 2015, sales of fair trade products have increased by 70 percent. According to the FFH, people in Germany spent an average of 25.83 euros per capita on fair food, textiles and handicrafts last year.
In view of the current crises, fair supply chains are more important than ever for trading partners in Africa, Asia and Latin America, emphasized Andrea Fütterer, Chairwoman of the FFH./rea/DP/jha