The History of Fair Trade

While organic certification ensures the purity of a product, fair trade certification ensures its social quality. World Fair Trade Organization defines fair trade as a way “ to transform trading structures and practices in favour of the poor and disadvantaged. By facilitating trading partnerships based on equity and transparency, Fairtrade contributes to sustainable development for marginalized producers, workers and their communities”.

Fair Trade movement started in 1940s and it gained momentum in Europe in the 1960s. There was an uprise against companies taking advantage of marginalized producers. Producers are often underpaid, while companies are unfairly scooping up most of the profits. The result is not only persistent poverty amongst the poor, but also under motivated producers who in the long run compromised the product quality, creating a lose-lose situation for all.

Sunria’s fair trade certified products guarantee that our producers are well taken care of. We recognized the interdependence between a product and its producers, and believe happier and more fulfilled farmers produce better products.