Wednesday May 24th, 2000, 10:00 am
University of London Union, Malet Street, Bloomsbury, London
As world market prices for cocoa fall to all time lows and with the
recent EU decision on allowing
vegetable fats in chocolate, disadvantaged producers and their Fairtrade
partners are meeting in
London to develop survival strategies.
Attending will be representatives from small farmers organizations from
seven Latin American and
West-African countries as well as cocoa buyers. The meeting, organised
by Fairtrade Labelling
Organizations International, the umbrella organisation which includes
the UKâ€s Fairtrade Foundation,
together with TWIN, the UK based fair trade commodity specialist, brings
together stakeholders
throughout the cocoa chain †from farmer to retailer.
Launched in 1993 in the Netherlands, sales of Fairtrade labelled cocoa
and chocolate took off last
year, more than doubling in UK and rising by 25% across Europe, to
pass a 1000 tons of final
product. Fairtrade offers direct market access, a minimum price for
cocoa and an additional premium
for social development. But it is a huge challenge to make Fairtrade
work in a highly competitive
market environment and many small producers organizations are facing
dificulties in realising their
plans for development.
The meeting will be opened by International Cocoa Organisation, Executive
Director, Dr Edouard
Kouamé who welcoming the initiative, says,â€Small-holder
producers account for over 90% of global
cocoa output. However, these producers, who are vulnerable, have
been marginalised in discussions
concerning the industry.â€
Although registered to supply to the Fairtrade market many farmerâ€s
organisations represented at the
London meeting are yet to sell more than 10% of their cocoa on Fairtrade
terms. The challenge
facing the conference is how to encourage more consumers to buy Fairtrade
chocolate and cocoa in
order to increase volumes sold to the Fairtrade market.
Jose Antonio Santos Santos, Export Manager of Agroexportadora Maquita
from Ecuador, who will be
present at the meeting, says: â€The alternative market
has been the light that illuminated the road,
the door that gave us access to the conventional market. Knowing that
there are people supporting
our efforts and understand that cocoa not only serves to make chocolate,
but that it also represents
the only hope for thousands of poor farmers gave us the strength
to continue.â€
According to Mr. Ohemeng Tinyase, Managing Director of Kuapa Kokoo in
Ghana, the impact of Fairtrade
on farmers includes: †The ability to have their own institution
to trade thus ensuring independence
from exploitative intermediaries. Farmers get higher prices as seen
in higher producer price than
Ghanaâ€s government guarantee price, end of year bonus
and they benefit from lower prices for farm
inputs as cutlasses and boots. And there is empowerment through capacity
building and training in
the societies, promoting the establishment and practice of democracy
throughout the organization.â€
A new report commissioned by the Department for International Development,
which will be presented
at the conference, concludes, â€A sustainable future for
international fair-trade cocoa will only be
secured if the market grows. The most likely source of growth
is through supermarkets. Increased
scale will improve profitability for existing participants and will
attract new companies to engage
in the trade.â€
To this end, producers and Fairtrade organanizations wil be urging consumers
to buy goods that carry
the Fairtrade label - the independent consumer label that appears on
chocolate and cocoa as an
independent guarantee that products meet internationally recognised
standards of fair trade.
Programme starts at 10.00am. Presentations by:
Mr Jose Antonio Santos Santos, Agroexportadora Maquita, Ecuador
Ms Sophi Tranchell, The Day Chocolate Company (Divine Chocolate)
Mr John Kennedy, Green&Blackâ€s (Maya Gold & Green
& Blackâ€s Milk chocolate)
Mr Christopher Collinson, Natural Resources Institute (author of Economic
Viability of Ethical Cocoa
trading in Ecuador)
After the presentations there is time reserved for interviews with producers.
Background for Editors May 2000
Producers and importers:
The cocoa beans for Fairtrade labelled chocolate and cocoa products
sold in Europe come from seven
producers organizations in seven countries: Belize, Bolivia, Cameroon,
Costa Rica, Dominican
Republic, Ecuador and Ghana and all will be represented on the meeting.
Together they represent over
45,000 small and medium sized cocoa producers. Five importers are currently
trading on fair trade
terms and there are 10 cocoa processors and chocolate manufacturers.
Rising Sales
ï¶ Since the launch of Fairtrade Labelled cocoa and chocolate
in the Netherlands in 1993, sales have
risen gradually to reach over 1000 tons of final poducts in 9 European
countries in 1999.
ï¶ In 1999 in four of the nine countries labelled chocolate
and cocoa sales doubled.
ï¶ The demand for organic fairtrade cocoa and chocolate
is increasing significantly and farmers
organization from Central- and Latin-America are making good use of
this market opportunity.
Fairtrade sales of cocoa products per country in tons:
Country 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 %
Netherlands 123.9 147.6 187.8 177.4 172.1 178.8 16.7
Switzerland 83.2 171.1 179.6 124.0 141.4 161.6 15.2
Germany 311.1 330.8 328.7 300.0 28.2
UK 22.0 24.3 81.5 214.2 20.1
Austria 38.0 26.5 56.7 5.3
Luxembourg 13.7 15.6 15.1 1.4
Italy 45.6 103.4 9.7
Sweden 6.7 17.5 1.6
Denmark 18.7 1.8
Total: 207.1 318.7 700.5 708.2 818.1 1066.0 100
Future prospects:
ï¶ The potential for fairtrade chocolate and cocoa is clearly
greater. The sales volumes in countries
where supermarkets have listed Fairtrade chocolate and cocoa, have
shown a signficant increase.
Plans for launching labelled cocoa and chocolate are underway in France,
Norway and USA.
ï¶ All producers organizations are implementing organic
production schemes, to promote sustainable
production and to generate better prices for their produce. Of the
imported total of 1250 tons of
Fairtrade cocoa beans, over 25% is certified organic.
For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Ms.Reina Foppen, FLO-International: tel: +49-228-949 23 28,
fax: +49-228-242 17 13 email: r.foppen@fairtrade.net
or
Ms. Monique Veracruz, TWIN: tel: +44-207-375 1221,
fax: +44-207-375 1337, email: moniqueveracruz@twin.org.uk
Conferenza stampa giovedì 11 maggio h: 12,00 a Trigoria - Roma
Alla Conferenza Stampa che si terrà giovedì 11 maggio
alle ore 12,00 presso la sede della società
Roma Calcio in Via di Trigoria a Roma, verrà presentato ai giornalisti
limpegno della squadra a
favore del Progetto Adotta un campo sportivo, adotta la solidarietà
promosso da TransFair Italia e
dallUnione Sportiva Acli, uno dei principali Enti di promozione Sportiva
riconosciuti dal Coni.
Limpegno diretto dei calciatori della Roma è quello di devolvere
la somma delle multe pagate
durante il campionato per la realizzazione di un campo sportivo polivalente
davanti alla scuola di
Stublla, villaggio situato nellarea della municipalità di Vitine
(zona sud-orientale del Kosovo).
Infatti il Progetto Adotta un campo sportivo ha come obiettivo la
raccolta di fondi per la
ricostruzione di spazi sportivi davanti alle scuole del Kosovo ristrutturate
dagli operatori
volontari dellIPSIA, lOrganizzazione non governativa delle Acli per
la cooperazione
internazionale. Questo progetto dà continuità ad uniniziativa
di successo del 99: la Campagna che
ha promosso lacquisto di palloni puliti (prodotti senza ricorrere
al lavoro minorile) da inviare
ai bambini e ai ragazzi kosovari. La Campagna sostenuta dal calciatore
della Roma Damiano Tommasi,
ha consentito di distribuire alle scuole, ai centri di aggregazione
e ai gruppi sportivi
sopravvissuti alle devastazioni della guerra, un numero consistente
di palloni puliti.
Il gesto di solidarietà dei giocatori della Roma è anche
un appello che altri soggetti, non solo del
mondo sportivo professionistico, potranno raccogliere per aiutare concretamente
la crescita dello
sport giovane in territorio kosovaro.
Parteciperanno alla Conferenza:
Numerosi giocatori della AS ROMA CALCIO
Paolo Pastore Coordinatore Operativo di TransFair Italia
Vincenzo Menna Presidente Naz.le USAcli
Per ulteriori informazioni e adesioni contattare:
Unione Sportiva Acli TranFair Italia
Via Marcora, 18 00153 Roma Passaggio De Gasperi,
3 - 35131 Padova
Tel. 06/5840650 - fax 06/5840564 Tel.
049/8750823 fax 049/8750910
sabato 13 Maggio 2000 - ore 15,300
teatro S.Giuseppe - via Milano 99
Cologno Monzese
Incontro/Dibattito
Cancelliamo il debito
campagna Sdebitarsi/Jubilee Coalition
campagna Ecclesiale per la riduzione del debito estero dei Paesi più
poveri
Programma:
* saluto di Vittorio Beretta Assessore ai Servizi sociali
* introduzione di Giuseppe Sampietro Consulta per la Pace e Solidarietà
Interverranno:
* Alberto Castagnola autore di Cancellare il debito, edizioni EMI
* Don Raffaello Ciccone responsabile Pastorale del Lavoro, Diocesi
Milano
* Andrea Rodrigo Rivas Economista latinoamericano
moderatore: Federico Ceratti direttore agenziastampa Acea- il Giornale
della
Natura
Cercare di spiegare il meccanismo dell'indebitamento dei Paesi del Sud
del
Mondo è importante, perché lo consideriamo uno dei fattori
che bloccano
l'evoluzione di larga parte dell'umanità e che continuano a
far aumentare il
numero dei poveri senza speranza.
Comprenderlo è il primo necessario passo per riuscire a modificare
radicalmente la logica e il funzionamento dei rapporti economici
internazionali.
Anche nel nostro quotidiano, con stili di vita più sobri, sostenendo
il
commercio equo e solidale possiamo globalizzare la solidarietà.
aderiscono:
Consulta del Volontariato, Acec, Acli, Agesci, Caritas, Creare
Primavera,
Gruppo missionario SS. Marco e Gregorio, Gruppo Socio-politico Parrocchia
S.Giuseppe, Una Casa per gli Amici, Volontari Achab
per ogni informazione:
Acec, tel/fax 022546592 e-mail libceles@tin.it