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 Fair trade flowers
Flowers are increasingly being shipped globally. Historically, in the UK, it has been standard practice for supermarket and florist chains to import their flowers from Holland. Recently, flowers have been imported from even further a field. Low labour costs, and improved and cheaper transport costs have made it an attractive economic option. The one issue that consumers have, is that workers in developing nations are often exploited, and rarely receive a fair wage for their work. The Fairtrade Foundation of the United Kingdom have provided a fairtrade logo scheme. The logo identifies a product which is produced by workers and manufacturers that have received a 'fair' wage or price for their work. The aim of the Fairtrade Foundation is to stop the exploitation of developing nations, through the trading pressure of multinational corporations. The minimum price that retailers pay for a Fairtrade product is set by a regulatory body. This body is based at the FLO. It is their task to conduct research into the price it costs to manufacture products. And, the price it needs to be to generate wealth and sustain investment opportunities. The FLO sets minimum bids for a range of staple products. Which includes cocoa, sugar, coffee, and bananas. This is far from simple. Some products are traded in such a manner, that it becomes difficult to standardise a price. One product that fits this category is flowers. Flowers only have a broad descriptive guideline, which is as follows, "a price needs to be negotiated by retailers, to provide producers a sum that will cover the costs of sustainable production" The following supermarkets have sold fairtrade flowers at some point in time. ASDA Carnations Carnation Sunshine Bouquet Roses Lisianthus Equa Roses
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