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disadvantages for Fair Trade
Believe it or not, there are some disadvantages for Fair Trade... but all of them are beatable!. I may think of these:
Tariffs
They are much lower for non-processed supplies than for processed goods, so it may be non-profitable for producers to export, for example, roasted coffee instead of green coffee beans. This generates another disadvantage: producer countries are not encouraged to invest on processing facilities, thus hampering their industrial development efforts.
Limited points of sale
Most Fair Trade goods are still sold at specialized shops and still little of them make their way to mainstream distribution chains. Fortunately this is slowly changing and we can find ever more certified products on large retailers. Also, some traders offer the possibility of on-line shopping, which may be handy if you live far from any World Shop.
"Use" of a label
A touchy issue, still unresolved. Large corporations may purchase a certain amount of Fair Trade certified cocoa, for example, take it to their factories and wear the label in the final product. Washing a bad corporate reputation? Enlarging Fair Trade scope?. Well, I stick more to the first opinion but still can't condemn the practice.
This kind of commerce was born to protect small-scale producers from abuses; if large companies are allowed to boast one of these labels, consumers may get confused, thinking that those companies usually trade fairly, when actually it is just the opposite. On the other hand, if, say, Nestlé, can purchase all the cocoa from Ghana on a Fair way, should we oppose to it?. I don't think so.
May be we still need to clarify the use and scope of FLO label and, could be, create another one to certify other important subjects which may be relevant to consumers: co-operative organization of the whole chain of supply, etc. So far, customers may know how to appreciate a product with two or more labels on it, i.e., Fair Trade and Organic, and be able to distinguish the scope of each one.
In spite of these disadvantages for Fair Trade I keep the most optimistic view on it.
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