Fairtrade: there’s no magic wand

YOUR feature (June 8) asked ‘How fair is fair trade?’ and went on to cite various criticisms of fairtrade that have been made in the media over the past year.

Fairtrade is a system that was set up to ensure farmers and workers in developing countries receive a fair deal for the goods they sell with the Fairtrade mark.

It does this mainly by setting guaranteed minimum prices and paying an extra social premium or bonus that can be used for local development.