Fairtrade is the gold standard for producers

IN her otherwise excellent report on her visit to Kenya sponsored by Lyons Tea (‘Refreshing Change, October 11), your correspondent seriously misrepresents Fairtrade.

She says “Fairtrade prices for commodities like coffee are fixed. So, if there is a coffee shortage one year and the price soars, the Fairtrade farmers won’t get the knock-on benefit”.

This is completely wrong. The truth is that Fairtrade — unlike any other label — guarantees a fixed minimum price which farmers receive no matter how low the market price falls. Five years ago, at the height of the international coffee crisis, the Fairtrade minimum price for coffee was as high as twice the market price, and thousands of farmers were able to survive because of it.