Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s is switching to sell only Fairtrade bananas, a move which will double Fairtrade’s share of the market .
The UK’s third largest grocery retailer currently sells 1000 bananas per minute and stated that they would buy five times as many Fairtrade bananas as now.
Sainsbury’s has already enjoyed a rise in sales thanks to a turnaround of its business by promoting ethical and fresh foods, while rival stores such as Tesco and Asda are now in the process of ramping up ethical lines having been initially caught out by the trend.
The company said that prices for consumers would not rise as a result of the move, but that farmers and their communities would get an additional £3million in 2007. The ‘social premium’ generated for growers next year will be £4million, as much as the past seven years put together.
The decision to go 100 per cent Fairtrade on the most popular item sold in supermarkets will give Sainsbury’s a bigger share of the overall Fairtrade market than all the other major supermarkets combined.
Fairtrade said in a separate statement the move was the biggest commitment to date by a single company to the brand .
Sainsbury’s chief executive, Justin King, indicated the move was also a response to changing customer demands.
“From now on every customer will know that buying bananas from Sainsbury’s is helping to make a difference to a developing country,” he said.
“We know our customers feel passionately about Fairtrade and we want to make their choice easier.”
Kenny Anthony, prime minister of banana producing island St Lucia, said in a statement, “In this era of competitive global trade, small scale farmers like ours have little or no chance of survival without the kind of market intervention that is provided through Fairtrade .”
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