During the fall of 2013, Fairtrade certified producers will have more opportunities to sell their bananas in the Swedish market. Dole will start offering fair trade bananas to retailers and wholesalers in the Summer of 2013 and they will be available at local stores as part of the household fruit basket.
Approximately 8,900 tonnes of fair trade bananas from different countries were sold in Sweden during 2012. This represents an opportunity for the associations of small producers who make up the Consortium Fairtrade Banana Export such as Cerro Azul, Union Regional de Organizaciones Campesinas del Litoral (UROCAL) and the Brazilian San Miguel Corporation, who work together with PRO ECUADOR.
Each Fairtrade banana that is consumed represents the growth of a family of small producers. A fair market provides stability and encourages small producers to meet the stringent quality standards of the market. The Fairtrade premium allows people to run productive development, social and environmental projects that benefit the small farmers' families and the community in general.
Fairtrade Sweden with PRO ECUADOR through its Commercial Office in Stockholm, are working to facilitate the access of small Ecuadorian banana producers, especially those that are part of the Fairtrade Banana Export Consortium. The representative of this organization said it was a new opportunity for small producers, and Latin American countries like Ecuador, so they are working to further develop this potential market.
Source: Oficina Comercial en Estocolmo/proecuador
