THE ESSENCE OF FAIR TRADE AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN THE WORLD ECONOMY

The article presents the main issues of Fair Trade. According to the authors Fair Trade is a very important idea, while a programme designed to change the location and raising the standard of living of a large population of poor regions of the world. Empirical data derived from two sources, the world’s largest organizations of Fair Trade: the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) and Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO), are presented in tabular and graphical form. It should be noted that the volume of production and sales of Fair Trade products over the years have been increasing steadily (double-digit levels of an annual growth rate). The main Fair Trade products are: coffee, cocoa, bananas and cane sugar. The largest importers of Fair Trade production in the years 2004–2011 were the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Majority of all farmers and workers within the Fairtrade1 system live in Africa. Harmful intervention, unethical money allocation, corruption and overproduction argument are the most negative aspects of Fair Trade considered by the economists.