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Sadly, most of those who like to describe what they are doing as fair trade, completely fail to meet the aspirations that we have described.
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ESPITE the efforts and care that some alternative organizations do persue, there remains a huge gap of inequality between the earnings and status of the people who produce and the affluence of the final buyers.
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Keeping those inequalities in mind, even in the context of proper alternative marketing can anyone really look the worker or grower in the eye and say that the trade is «fair»?
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A producer-centred approach will definitely improve conditions for producers – but in the reality of great inequality is it either accurate or helpful to use such a grand assertion as «Fair Trade»?
Inevitably the final selling price of a non-food product imported from an economically-poor place often has to include the penalty of protectionist import duty imposed by the importing countries, sometimes plus "anti-dumping duty", and always v.a.t. or sales tax.
These taxes alone almost certainly add up to more than the amount of earnings that can be paid to the worker producers, who are often skilled craftmakers. So how can anyone claim that «fair trade» has been achieved?
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In the case of food products, the processing is generally done in the industrialized countries so the grower's share of the final sales price is not that much.
Shipping, haulage, and marketing costs of course also add greatly to prices.
When all this is considered, the producer's share of the final customer price might not on the face of things seem at all «fair».
The relationship between the status of producer and buyer in these situations is seldom that of equality. How therefore can this ever be described as fair?
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