Sales of Fair Trade products in Ireland last year shot up by 101% according to the annual report from Fair Trade Labelling Organisations International, or FLO.
The global average increase was 48%. Sales in Ireland grew from €11.6m in 2006 to €23.3m last year.
Peter Gaynor, executive director at Fairtrade Mark Ireland, said that the growth was mainly down to an increasing number of coffeeshop chains converting to 100% Fair Trade mark coffee.
He said though that while coffee and tea are still a huge part of the business, it has now extended into new products like clothes made from Fair Trade cotton. He added that, in general, retailers are stocking a much bigger basket of Fair Trade goods.
Peter Gaynor said the growth is mainly consumer led, but it is also, growingly, company led.
'When businesses in Ireland look at their Corporate Social Responsibility strategies they will see that being a responsible corporate citizen is as much about how companies make their money as how they spend it,' he said.
