UK
Sainsbury’s announcement that it is bringing oversight of its sustainable sourcing in-house has alarmed many supporters of the Fair Trade, UZI, the Rainforest Alliance, and organic certification schemes.
Whether this means their erosion is open to conjecture, but it is very clear that the entire logistics of tea sourcing will move in Sainsbury’s direction. Many chocolate, food, and coffee firms have dropped Fair Trade and organic certification for their products and are applying their own, not third-party, standards.
Sainsbury’s is the second largest supermarket chain in the UK. It has been one of the major retailers of Fair Trade items in Europe, around $400 million a year. Now, it has announced it will work with African tea groups and cooperatives to implement its own Fairly Traded scheme. This drops third-party certification for its private brands. It will develop its own eco-labeling.
The main goals for insourcing are to provide greater control and less bureaucracy. The firm is better able to integrate sustainable sourcing certification across its bush to store shelf logistics. A controversial element is that the premium earned by Fair Trade growers will not be left to their own decision. Fairly Traded requires investment proposals that Sainsbury’s will screen and approve, focusing on making sure the funds reach their intended target of improving workers’ daily living.
Critics oppose its lack of outside scrutiny and see it as a new form of business colonialism and a weakening of industry commitment to the goals of Fair Trade. Whatever the outcome, this is a major shift in global industry dynamics.