We last carried out a formal review of our banking arrangements in 2005, taking into account bidders' ethical credentials as well as the services we need our bankers to provide.
Fair Traders are a very effective way of helping us to help poor producers gain access to new markets and experience the benefits of trade. They are not technically volunteers – Fair Traders buy Traidcraft goods at their own risk and sell them on at a small profit, albeit that most of this is used to off-set costs or given to charity.
There are always risks in business and some of our producers inevitably fail to become sustainable. However, Traidcraft works to reduce those risks by seeing how we can build capacity with good quality, low cost services and information and support.
Traidcraft uses a range of manufacturing companies to produce our various food products. All these companies have to be registered with the Fairtrade Foundation or their national equivalent in order to manufacture goods with the Fairtrade Mark.
For Traidcraft, fair trade is not a gimmick or a marketing tool to boost sales, but the very reason for our existence. One of our foundation principles is to be transparent in our trading relationships.
