Fairtrade demand boosts Cafedirect sales

A boom in demand for Fairtrade products helped tea and coffee firm Cafedirect post a 9% rise in annual sales today.

The UK’s largest 100% Fairtrade hot drinks firm said sales rose to a record £21.6m (€31.7m) in the year to September 30, despite increasing competition in its markets.

Out-of-home sales, which include sales to caterers, restaurants, cafes and offices, grew 41% amid an increase in demand for ethically-labelled products.

Retail sales, such as those from supermarkets, rose by 2% despite an increasingly competitive market which has seen a proliferation in the introduction of Fairtrade and other ethical products.

Cafedirect, which was established in 1991, holds a 35% share of UK Fairtrade tea and coffee sales, according to independent research. While, market research group AC Neilsen said Cafedirect is the sixth largest coffee brand and the eighth biggest tea brand in the whole of the UK hot drinks sector.

During the year, Cafedirect paid a social return of £2.4 million to its coffee, tea and cocoa partner growers.

In addition, the company ploughed a further £700,000 of its profits back into it Producer Partnership Programme (PPP), which is aimed at strengthening its producer organisations to make them more sustainable over the longer term. This figure represented a rise of 19% on the previous year.

Cafedirect said it now works with more than one million farmers and their families from 37 organisations in 12 countries.

The group’s PPP activities include working with farmers to find and support trade in new markets – including their own countries, helping farmers diversify their crop production, and strengthening farmers involvement in their organisations to increase their participation in decision making.