Why Fair Trade Is a Bad Deal

255 Words2 Pages
Thanks to fair trade consumers are obliged to pay more for everything. In order for a product to be certified in the West, an importer needs to pay a minimum price for it to a producer. However, the effects of this policy might not always be positive. Often, this policy might distort the market of certain goods. Producers in some countries may choose to produce certain crops only because they can get an artificially high price under fair trade schemes. This harms the poorest producers who have no choice but to stay in the market. Fair trade also harms those producers whose goods are of a lesser quality. By setting a minim price, retailers are encouraged to buy only from producers who produce better products. On the other hand, poorer producers could produce their goods for less and price them lower but according to fair price this is not possible. Free market encourages producers to be more modernized and productive while fair price prevents mechanization. Starbucks, for example, actively promotes mechanization among coffee producers. They help producer build coffee mills to be more economically stable and efficient. Also, Starbucks taught consumers to consider their coffee a premium product. Therefore, consumers are willing to pay much more for their products and drop cheap instant coffee that they used to drink. Starbucks helped to increase coffee producers’ salaries tremendously in developing countries. The company has completely forgotten about the fair prices and looked beyond the scope of this policy to improve the lives of the

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