Making ‘Fair Trade’… Well, Fair! 让公平贸易…公平！

After Green Initiatives’ film screening of ‘Black Gold’ on 21 May 2020, we were glad to see more discussions arising in the community on the subject of ethical coffee.

2020年5月21日，绿色倡议组织的的记录片《黑金》放映活动结束以后，我们很高兴地看到这次活动在人群中引发了不少反响和讨论。

However, ethical or responsible procurement of goods, and concepts such as Fair Trade are still new to many, and this article touches on the concept of ethical coffee purchase, how it works, and what we need to know.

同时我们也看到，道德消费、公平贸易这些概念虽然已经有很多年的历史，很多的消费者其实并不了解这些概念背后的具体机制。这篇文章将关注这些概念的形成、含义、体系构建，以及发展现状。

What is Fair Trade? 什么是公平贸易?

Fair Trade is a concept to promote fairness, transparency and sustainable development for producers, through:

公平贸易是一个推崇生产者公平，供应链透明以及可持续发展的概念，它旨在通过

1) Providing a neutral platform for producers to voice their issues, seek better trade conditions, and price their products in a way that actually reflects the real cost of growing the crops, both economically and socially;

为生产者提供一个公平贸易平台，争取更好的贸易条件，争取能反映农作物种植成本以及实际社会经济价值的价格，

2) Facilitating access to various marketing channels, especially in the large distribution channels like retail, hypermarket, food service providers, etc., to create higher awareness among consumers and accelerate the sale, and thus market-share of Fair Trade goods.

在各种流通渠道，特别是大型流通渠道例如零售商，大型超市，餐饮业，推广公平贸易商品，提高消费者道德消费意识，提高公平贸易商品市场份额，

3) Eventually, it is an effort to improve the living conditions of producers, while transitioning to a more sustainable form of agriculture, hence secure consumption of these goods in the long run, but also improve the health of the planet.

来实现帮助生产者脱贫，改善生活条件，转变农业生产方式，保护地球生态环境，推进这类商品的可持续性消费的目的。

The movement focuses in particular on commodities, or products which are typically exported from developing countries to developed countries, but also domestic markets. Most notably, products such as handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, wine, sugar, fruit, flowers and gold. 

这个运动主要关注大宗经济作物，或者是以从发展中国家出口到发达国家为特点的商品，比如手工艺品，咖啡，可可，葡萄酒，糖，水果，花，以及黄金。

[To read our last article about ‘What is the real cost of our coffee?’ visit this link or click on the image below. 点击以下链接可回顾文章“什么是一杯咖啡的真正价值”]

To most consumers the only exposure to Fair Trade is through the labeling on the package of certain goods. Very often, consumers do not even notice this information if they have not received prior information. Others may access them outlets like Worldshop, which are specialized retail outlets offering and promoting Fair Trade products. But that accounts for only a very small portion of Fair Trade sales.

大部分消费者对公平贸易的接触仅仅停留在超市货架上公平贸易商品外包装上的一个商标。如果你从来没听过这个概念，可能根本就不会注意这个商标。一小部分人可能在类似于Worldshop这样的特殊商店里接触过公平贸易商品，但这类特殊渠道在公平贸易商品流通中的比例很小。

In total, ethical and Fair Trade products take up less than 1% of the market.

总体上来说，公平贸易商品的流通额占世界总贸易额的比例不到1%。

The Fair Trade movement is supported by an informal network of global associations that define the standards, give certifications, audit the supply chain, consolidate the data and advocate the values. 

世界公平贸易体系由很多个公平贸易认定机构以非官方的形式构成，这些机构制定认定标准，执行认定活动，给予公平贸易资质，整合贸易数据，推广公平贸易理念。

Some of them that you may have heard of include: 
比较有名的认定机构有:

• FLO International

• Fair Trade USA

• Global Goods Partners (GGP)

• World Fair Trade Organization

• the European Fair Trade Association (EFTA) and a handful of other names.

In the case of coffee, the four major sustainability initiatives that focus on coffee production certification are: 4C (now called Global Coffee Platform), Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and UTZ.

专注于咖啡认定的机构有4C (也叫 Global Coffee Platform), Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance以及UTZ。

How Does This Arrangement Work? 公平贸易认定机制

Taking Fairtrade International (former FLO International) as an example, the standard for coffee could be simplified to be understood as a reference market price that can never be below the Fairtrade Minimum Price and a Fairtrade Premium that can never be below the levels defined in the Fairtrade Minimum Price and Premium table, plus arrangements like pre-finance, payment terms, sustaining trade and so on, that give producers certain advantages.

以Fairtrade International机构对咖啡的认定标准为例，我们可以把这一套复杂的标准理解为三部分，一是基础售价不得低于Fairtrade机构根据市场环境变化定期更新的最低价格，二是在基础售价之上的社会援助溢价，这个溢价的比例也由Fairtrade定期做出定义，这两个价格工具是公平贸易标准的核心，在这些工具之外，生产者和收购商还可以定义对生产者有利的交易条件，例如信用条款、付款条件、回购等等。具体的价格构成可以参考下图。

The Minimum Price part is easy to understand. It aims to protect farmers from volatile coffee price in the globe. It doesn’t stop farmers to negotiate a higher price though on the basis of quality and other factors, or simply when the market price is above. Fairtrade premium is an extra sum of money paid on top of the selling price that farmers and workers invest in business or community projects of their choice.

基础售价这个工具比较容易理解，因为咖啡的流通价格波动非常大，基础售价的存在保证了就算咖啡流通价格在低位，咖农也能至少收回他们的种植成本；同时也不限制当咖啡流通价格在高位的时候，参与公平贸易的咖农或者合作社取得高位的价格，或者在日常谈判中根据产品的质量或其他的因素要求更好的价格。社会援助溢价是在基础售价之上的一定比例的溢价，这一部分溢价必须用于Fairtrade规定的用途，例如提高农民生活水平的基础设施建设，或者提高劳动生产效率的项目投入。

Only those productions that meet these standards are eligible for Fairtrade certification. 

只有符合这些标准的生产及贸易方式，旗下的产品才有资格获得Fairtrade认证。

Coffee is the most well-established Fair Trade commodity, within the Fair Trade product range in terms of production volume as well as the number of producers involved. The 2019 Year Book of Fairtrade International shows that there are 582 Fairtrade certified coffee producer organizations across 32 countries, with a total of 762,392 farmer members.

咖啡是众多作物中公平贸易体系最为成熟的，也是影响力最大的。Fairtrade International2019年年报中的数据表明，在全世界范围内，获得Fairtrade认证的咖啡生产组织有582家，他们分布在32个国家，影响着762392个咖农。

Source: Fair Trade International

How Fair is ‘Fair Trade’ Really? 公平贸易有多公平？

There has never been a silver bullet, a click-your-finger magic trick for ending resource or grower exploitation. The Fair Trade system has been criticized to be “a marketing scam designed to get people to pay more for basic products or to make middle class people feel better about themselves”. In particular, the fire goes in these directions:

当然了，没有任何体系是完美无缺的，公平贸易体系的存在也并没有完全消除国际贸易体系中的不公。不少人认为公平贸易运动只是在生活必需品类上撸消费者羊毛的市场营销手段，有的人说公平贸易只是在迎合中产阶级自我感觉良好的心理需要。批评的声音主要集中在以下几个方面：

• The premium over Fair Trade products is collected by businesses, employees of co-operatives or used for unnecessary expenses, instead of reaching producers. 

  农民大多需要依靠合作社的组织力量才能加入公平贸易认定体系，通过社会援助溢价取得的收益通常停留在组织这个层面，有时候被用到没有实际成果的项目上，甚至落进组织的工作人员的私人口袋里，农民并没有直接受益。

Source: Strategy Plan Canada

• It is often not monitored how much extra retailers charge for Fair Trade goods, so it is rarely possible to determine how much producers benefit from the premium that consumers pay.

  
  

  虽然公平贸易机构在流通的最初环节对价格做出定义，但在终端销售环节，零售商对价格有完全的自由裁量，零售商对公平贸易商品做出的高于普通商品的毛利设定，农民并不是受益者，而公平贸易机构几乎不考量这一环节利益分配的公平性。

• Even though only a small amount is sold under Fair Trade price (often because of short demand), the whole production has to meet the standards to be certified. The cost incurred to produce Fair Trade goods is often hardly covered by the extra price received.

  
  

  公平贸易认定的机制是整个劳作规模都必须符合标准，其产品才能获得认证，即使只有部分产品能够以公平贸易商品的价格卖出（因为通常市场对公平贸易商品的需求并不高），取得的溢价刚刚勉强够付为满足这些标准而产生的额外劳动和成本，有时候还不够。

Source: The Economist

• The system falsely claims that Fair Trade producers get higher price, but fails to disclose the extra price retailers charge on consumers, how much of this reaches the developing world, and how this is spent in the developing world.

  
  

  在推广口径上，公平贸易机构只是片面的强调农民获得高于市场的价格，却不披露零售商售卖公平贸易商品的高毛利，也疏于披露消费者支付的高于其他商品的价格有多少真的回流到发展中国家，以及这些钱在发展中国家到底被谁使用，如何使用。

• Adherence to Fair Trade standards by producers has been poor, and enforcement of standards is weak.

  不少生产组织对标准的执行并不完全达标。
  

  
  

• Fairtrade tends to exclude the poorest countries.

  公平贸易体系似乎把最贫穷的国家排除在外”。

Source: The Guardian

“54%的获得公平贸易认证的生产组织来自中高收入水平国家，21%的生产组织来自低收入水平国家。而真正来自贫困国家的生产组织只有13.5%。"

卫报

Direct Trade and #SupportYourLocal

直接贸易以及支持本地供应商运动

Direct Trade is a derivative of the Fair Trade movement and the outcome of thoughts that intend to make improvements.

因为看到公平贸易的各种短板，不少人开始思索更有效的方式来促进贸易的效率和公平性，直接贸易这个概念逐渐衍生。

Direct Trade allows suppliers to receive higher prices i.e. much closer to the retail value of the end product. It began with suppliers using their relationships started in a Fair Trade system to autonomously springboard into direct sales relationships they negotiated themselves.

直接贸易的方式让农作物生产者能够拿到更接近零售环节的价格。不少参与公平贸易的合作社在长年累月的活动中积累了不少下游资源，他们争取越过中间商与下游直接谈判，从而获得更好的条件。

Source: Hunter's Blend Coffee

A remarkable case is the electronic World Trade Platform or eWTP as it is popularly called, that the Alibaba Group built in the Republic of Rwanda. By selling directly to end consumers, the farmers in Rwanda earned 4 dollars more for every kilogram of coffee they sold through this platform. 1,500kg coffee beans from Rwanda Farmers Coffee Company were sold in a second on an online promotion via livestreaming after Wei Ya, an internet popularity in China, announced the start of auctioning to over 10 million viewers, which is said to be the yearly sales under normal conditions. The brand she promoted happens to be a Fairtrade-certified brand.

比如说阿里巴巴集团在卢旺达成立的电子世界贸易平台。通过这个平台直接面向中国消费者，卢旺达的咖农每售出一公斤咖啡，比通过传统渠道出售可以多赚4美元。薇娅在淘宝上直播卖咖啡，一千万人在线观看，3000斤卢旺达咖啡豆秒光，卖出了平时一年的销量。这款咖啡品牌也恰好是Fairtrade认证品牌。

In 2019, Alibaba opened its second eWTP hub in Africa in Ethiopia.  

2019年，阿里巴巴集团在埃塞俄比亚启动了它在非洲的第二个电子贸易平台枢纽。

Source: Alizila News

Another informal movement that has gathered much attention recently is supporting local producers and goods. As Covid-19 paused global trade and people were instructed to not move around too much, many have begun to notice what has already been existing around us all the time:

另一个获得不少关注度的话题是支持本地供应商运动。因新冠疫情，国际贸易几乎停滞，人们被迫在有限范围内活动，不少人开始关注身边的本地的人与事。

What is available in my country? What does my neighborhood offer? What is the opportunity in my domestic market? What can I do to help local businesses? How can I play a role in contributing to a better environment?

我的国家都有什么资源？我的城市在发生什么？国内市场有些什么机会？我能为本地商业复兴做些什么？我能为改善环境做些什么？

Source: The Sourcing Blog

The answer to all of the above questions is the same: consume locally. That reduces environmental footprint, supports local communities, and reduces pollution caused by shipping of goods.

这些问题的答案是一样的：本地消费。这种消费形式能够支持本地经济，减少国际货运物流产生的污染，减少自然环境的负担。

Conclusion 结论

From our research, we find that the Fair Trade movement has definitely helped workers and communities across the world and met with considerable success in improving access to education, healthcare and opportunities for women. Fair Trade cooperatives create a space of solidarity and promote an entrepreneurial spirit among growers.

基于我们获得的信息，可以说，公平贸易运动的确帮助了不少发展中国家的农民和社区争取到更好的生活环境，推进可持续性的种植模式，特别是组建教育资源，医疗资源，以及改善女性劳工的生存条件。公平贸易合作社为农民提供了一个为自己发声的平台，鼓舞了农民的创业精神。

Source: The Independent

However, critics of the certification have often pointed out the high overheads and certification costs absorbing a steady portion of the funds that could go to poor growers, and that the Fair Trade system works within the current system rather than establish a new, fairer, fully autonomous trading system. There are also considerable criticisms about branding and name use (for ex. Fair Trade versus Fairtrade).

但不少批评者也指出了这个体系的问题，例如过于繁琐的认证程序，高昂的认证费用消耗了原本可以为农民所用的利润，以及体系本身依附于现有的国际贸易体系，并没有从根本上提出一个本质公平的制度设计。还有人认为运动流于市场营销手段，以及名称使用上容易产生混淆。

Source: Small Farmers Big Change

In our next article we will provide you with information on where to buy responsibly sourced, ethically produced coffee in China. 

下一篇文章，我们会尽量为大家收集在中国能够买到的尊重贸易公平，体现社会责任等价值观的咖啡。

If you know brands or sellers in China selling responsibly-sourced coffee please send us an email at info@greeninitiatives.cn or add our volunteer writer, Lin Ye, on WeChat by scanning the QR code below. We hope to publish this piece next week.

如果你有这一类商品的信息，请联系我们info@greeninitiatives.cn，或扫QR码在微信上加Lin Ye。下一篇文章预计于下周发送。

This article was researched and written by Green Initiatives' volunteer writer, Lin Ye.

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