Fairtrade growth by the numbers

(Facebook/Cadbury Milk Canada)

New data released out of the US shows that sales of Fairtrade products rose 24 percent in 2010. Similarly, the Fairtrade market broke the £1 billion mark (€1.16 billion ) in the UK last year.

Sales of Fairtrade products in the US in 2009 were pegged at $1.2 billion (€863 million).

Here's a look at the leading Fairtrade products:

Growth in the US in 2010

Ready-drink tea and coffee 39%

Coffee 33%

Skin and body care 32%

Chocolate 19%

Sweeteners 17%

- Source:   Fair Trade USA

Growth in the UK in 2010

Every day, Britons consume 9.3 million cups of Fairtrade tea; 6.4 million cups of Fairtrade coffee; 2.3 million Fairtrade chocolate bars; 530,000 cups of Fairtrade hot chocolate, and 3.1 million Fairtrade bananas.

Chocolate confectionery quadrupled to a retail value of £342 million, making chocolate the leading Fairtrade product by value in the UK

Drinking chocolate tripled to a value of £34 million

Coffee sales by volume increased 16%

Tea increased by volume 5%

Other categories like Fairtrade fruit, flowers and cotton declined or flatlined.

-  Source: Fairtrade Foundation UK