Partnering with Fairtrade: Championing the communities which pick and grow the food we enjoy every day

05 May 2025

For more than 20 years, Sainsbury's and Fairtrade have been working in partnership. As one of Fairtrade’s largest retail partners, Sainsbury’s champions and supports the communities which pick and grow the food we enjoy every day. We sell Fairtrade-certified products across our range, including tea, coffee, bananas, wine, sugar and nuts, and we contribute more Fairtrade Premium than any other UK retailer.

All by Sainsbury’s tea is 100% Fairtrade

All of our by Sainsbury’s black tea is Fairtrade, underscoring our commitment to sourcing our customers’ favourite products while working with tea farmers and workers to support their livelihoods and futures to flourish. As a result of our move, we are projected to become the largest retailer of Fairtrade tea in the UK.

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"When you buy Fairtrade tea, we are able to live a better life."

Mayeso

Tea farmer at Sukambizi

Sainsbury’s invests in living wages for banana workers

100% of our bananas are proudly Fairtrade. In 2023, alongside eight other retailers, we committed to supporting workers employed on large banana plantations towards earning a living wage by 2027. In 2024, we confirmed we will pay our contribution to support workers to earn a fairer wage, three years ahead of the industry deadline.

Since 2000, Fairtrade producers have earned an estimated £75 million through sales of Fairtrade bananas at Sainsbury’s.

To make this happen, we worked collaboratively with Fairtrade and our banana supplier Fyffes to introduce a mechanism that enables Sainsbury’s to pay an additional contribution on top of the Fairtrade Minimum Price and Fairtrade Premium which contributes towards reducing living wage gaps for workers on plantations within our banana supply chain. The contributions are bespoke to Sainsbury’s supply chain, reflecting the volumes of bananas we buy. Workers receive this money through a bonus issued through Fairtrade Premium Committees.

Furthermore, Sainsbury’s has moved to longer-term sourcing commitments with banana suppliers to provide them with greater stability and financial security. The Fairtrade Premium can be also used to contribute to environmental initiatives, meaning the banana workers can adopt more sustainable farm practices such as carbon capture, reduced water usage, improved biodiversity and enhanced soil health.

In 2024, we had sold more Fairtrade bananas and sugar than any other grocery retailer for nine years running

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Tackling climate change through coffee

To support our key coffee sourcing regions in tackling climate risks we are supporting smallholders to invest in different ways of producing coffee that is kinder to the environment and people. Building from Fairtrade’s sourcing terms and in partnership with our coffee supplier, we are working on a carbon focussed project to support women and protect the environment in Colombia.

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Want to find out more?

Our partnership with Fairtrade supports our approach to more sustainable sourcing, which sits within our sustainability strategy, Plan for Better.