On Friday 5 October, about thirty people: chocolate makers, Oxfam volunteers, representatives of the Province of Luxembourg and the Fair Trade Municipalities of the region, went to Bruges, the self-proclaimed capital of fair trade and chocolate.
The Trade for Development Centre (TDC) and Fairtrade Africa partnered with Euromonitor International to better understand the hot beverages market both in B2B (foodservice and institutions) and B2C (retail) channels, and the potential commercial opportunity for Fairtrade certified brands in Kenya and the wider region (Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania and Rwanda). The market research particularly focuses on the Fairtrade products as tea and coffee as the main hot beverages consumed by Kenyans but also on the powdered hot drinks such as hot chocolate.
In recent years, there have been numerous studies attesting that cocoa producers in Côte d’Ivoire, the main producing country, live in poverty. They earn EUR 0.86, around 1 dollar a day, according to Barry-Callebaut and the French Development Agency[1]. This income keeps them below the poverty line[2] and to make ends meet they have to resort to child labour and rampant deforestation (the productivity of cleared land required less labour in the early years).
A pilot project supported by the Trade for Development Centre enables Coopara to centralise the fermentation and quality control of its cocoa. The results: 70% grade 1 cocoa, the Nestlé market within reach and the interest of Belvas, a Belgian producer of organic and fair trade chocolate.
After the cocoa industry was blamed for the many child labour scandals and because cocoa producers were being paid prices that were far too low, large chocolate companies took initiatives to improve the sustainability. What is the current situation, particularly after the cocoa price on the world market dropped significantly last year?
Even while market conditions are tough, across cocoa-producing regions cooperatives resolutely choose for sustainable or organic production and fair trade. Twenty of these cooperatives are supported by the Trade for Development Centre (TDC). To put a face on their endeavours, we visited Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire as well as Bolivia and Vietnam.
Bruges is the first city in the world to launch its own fair trade chocolate bar, called Sjokla (as the word “chocolate” is pronounced in West Flanders). In doing so, the city, home to many chocolate makers, combines local craftsmanship and fair trade chocolate. The chocolate bar is also made from local ingredients.
Fair trade certification is expected to help Vietnamese cocoa enter the EU market, especially after the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement takes effect (2019), experts have said.
In Europe, demand for dark chocolate is rising by at least 70%. This is good news for small cocoa farmers in Peru who grow a fine and tasty variety of cocoa in the traditional way. The TDC decided to support a number of Peruvian cocoa cooperatives to increase the quality of their production so that they can conquer a nice place in the market of high quality cocoa.
‘Give back what you take’ sums up New Tree’s mission. This Belgian company does not just want to make chocolate; it wants to make healthy chocolate with surprising flavours. In exchange for what the planet gives us the company advocates a greener and fairer world. We already know that chocolate is healthy, but that chocolate can be responsible and sustainable is new and requires some explanation.
Cavalier, a family business, has been manufacturing chocolate with no added sugars for exactly twenty years. First, it did so with the alternative sweetener maltitol, and more recently mainly with stevia. When the product range was renewed, Cavalier resolutely went fair trade.
On Friday 5 October, about thirty people: chocolate makers, Oxfam volunteers, representatives of the Province of Luxembourg and the Fair Trade Municipalities of the region, went to Bruges, the self-proclaimed capital of fair trade and chocolate.
The Trade for Development Centre (TDC) and Fairtrade Africa partnered with Euromonitor International to better understand the hot beverages market both in B2B (foodservice and institutions) and B2C (retail) channels, and the potential commercial opportunity for Fairtrade certified brands in Kenya and the wider region (Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania and Rwanda). The market research particularly focuses on the Fairtrade products as tea and coffee as the main hot beverages consumed by Kenyans but also on the powdered hot drinks such as hot chocolate.
In recent years, there have been numerous studies attesting that cocoa producers in Côte d’Ivoire, the main producing country, live in poverty. They earn EUR 0.86, around 1 dollar a day, according to Barry-Callebaut and the French Development Agency[1]. This income keeps them below the poverty line[2] and to make ends meet they have to resort to child labour and rampant deforestation (the productivity of cleared land required less labour in the early years).
A pilot project supported by the Trade for Development Centre enables Coopara to centralise the fermentation and quality control of its cocoa. The results: 70% grade 1 cocoa, the Nestlé market within reach and the interest of Belvas, a Belgian producer of organic and fair trade chocolate.
After the cocoa industry was blamed for the many child labour scandals and because cocoa producers were being paid prices that were far too low, large chocolate companies took initiatives to improve the sustainability. What is the current situation, particularly after the cocoa price on the world market dropped significantly last year?
Even while market conditions are tough, across cocoa-producing regions cooperatives resolutely choose for sustainable or organic production and fair trade. Twenty of these cooperatives are supported by the Trade for Development Centre (TDC). To put a face on their endeavours, we visited Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire as well as Bolivia and Vietnam.
Bruges is the first city in the world to launch its own fair trade chocolate bar, called Sjokla (as the word “chocolate” is pronounced in West Flanders). In doing so, the city, home to many chocolate makers, combines local craftsmanship and fair trade chocolate. The chocolate bar is also made from local ingredients.
Fair trade certification is expected to help Vietnamese cocoa enter the EU market, especially after the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement takes effect (2019), experts have said.
In Europe, demand for dark chocolate is rising by at least 70%. This is good news for small cocoa farmers in Peru who grow a fine and tasty variety of cocoa in the traditional way. The TDC decided to support a number of Peruvian cocoa cooperatives to increase the quality of their production so that they can conquer a nice place in the market of high quality cocoa.
‘Give back what you take’ sums up New Tree’s mission. This Belgian company does not just want to make chocolate; it wants to make healthy chocolate with surprising flavours. In exchange for what the planet gives us the company advocates a greener and fairer world. We already know that chocolate is healthy, but that chocolate can be responsible and sustainable is new and requires some explanation.
Cavalier, a family business, has been manufacturing chocolate with no added sugars for exactly twenty years. First, it did so with the alternative sweetener maltitol, and more recently mainly with stevia. When the product range was renewed, Cavalier resolutely went fair trade.
