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The death of fair trade (Journal of 23 July) can partly be expelled from the EU. Its treatment of former colonies, which restricts trade free of tariffs to "primary products" so as to protect the profitable part of enterprises, manufacturing, means that they can be politically independent, but remain economically the same colonies.
Take Ghana, mentioned by Samanth Subramanian. Go buy your Divine "Fairtrade" chocolate bar. On the reverse, there is talk of Kuapa Kokoo, the cocoa producer organization that strives to ensure fair and stable prices for cocoa beans, with a supplement for the social premium. Read up at the end of the little text where it says "Made in Germany". Ghana has an excellent chocolate factory in the port city of Tema, but the workers only make chocolate for the local market because they have only the right to do so. Ghana would be much richer if it could sell the product manufactured here, but it would be in direct competition with the German manufacturer, which the EU is trained to protect. That is why I voted for the authorization in the referendum – although I probably would not do it again, Brexit probably does not improve the situation.
Tim Gossling
Cambridge
• Fairtrade has become a valuable criterion in the way responsible buyers feed their families, while supporting the principle of decent income for farmers around the world, especially developing countries. Unsurprisingly, we are now learning that not everything is as it seems. There is another criterion appreciated by the health-conscious consumer, who is often the same person to insist on fair trade – that of organic products. Producers "marking their own homework" as you say, I often wonder how reliable organic labeling is. I can buy organic honey that is described as coming from Derbyshire, but by reading the fine print, I discover that there is a mixture of honeys from "European and non-European sources". Can I really trust producers from all over the world to be equally rigorous in their marketing?
Bob Caldwell
Daventry, Northamptonshire
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