Michael Fabricant says that "some local retailers and coffee shops are
taking unfair advantage of customers wanting to buy fair trade goods.
Fair trade coffee is little more expensive than ordinary coffee yet some
coffee shops in Lichfield and elsewhere are charging as much as 10p more
a cup when the actual cost is little more than one tenth of a penny
more. They are using people’s goodwill to workers in developing
countries to make extra profit for themselves. That has to be wrong and
is a form of exploitation of the worst kind.

"Meanwhile, some supermarkets are adding on the costs of buying fair
trade goods like bananas. I commend the partner-owned Waitrose group of
supermarkets which not only do not do this, but also formed the Waitrose
Foundation, a charitable group, to assist growers in the third world.

"But this should not put people off buying fair trade goods which
provide a steady and predictable income to farmers who have long been
exploited by unscrupulous landowners."