From the Americas to Zambia Fairtrade food arrives in the UK

Published on 13/10/2006 01:59

AFRICA and South America produce the greatest range of Fairtrade foods sold in Britain.

The single largest variety comes from South Africa, which produces fruit such as grapes, clementines, oranges, lemons, apples, pears, dried fruit, satsumas, avocados, mangoes, plums and lychees, plus fruit juice, tea and wine.

The other African country with the greatest range is Zambia, from where the UK gets sugar, nuts and oil, honey and tea.

The next largest range arrives from Latin American countries, with Brazil producing dried fruit, nuts and oil, coffee, mangoes and juice.

Peru produces cocoa, coffee, bananas, nuts and oil, and mangoes, while pineapples, coffee, sugar and bananas come from Costa Rica.

The Dominican Republic produces bananas, cocoa, dried fruit and coffee; from Ecuador comes bananas, quinoa, mangoes and dried fruit, while Bolivia exports coffee, quinoa and nuts and oil.

Paraguay produces sugar, dried fruit and tea, while Chile produces honey and wine, and Columbia produces coffee and bananas.

Other Fairtrade food includes cocoa from Belize, tea from China, Vietnam and Zimbabwe, bananas from the Windward Islands, rice from Thailand, and fruit juice from Cuba.