Chris Kidd – applied youth ministry

Last week Nestle announced that from Janaury four-finger Kit Kats will be Fairtrade.  More than 6,000 farmers in west Africa, set to get a better price for cocoa.

The news was welcomed by the Government and the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu who said:

“The fact that Nestlé have listened to local campaigners and invested considerable time, effort and financial support to make this Fairtrade biscuit a reality is fantastic news and shows the commitment they have to helping workers get fair wages for the work they do, no matter where they live in the world.”

Initially just the four-finger Kit Kat will be made from Fairtrade chocolate, a deal that will increase Fairtrade chocolate sales by £43 million on an annual basis, in comparison with the £28 million of Fairtrade chocolate sales that were achieved during 2008. However, this 2008 figure does not include the sales from Cadbury’s Dairy Milk which became Fairtradein 2009, which is expected to have added £180 million to Faitrade’s sales. Eventually, once more Fairtrade chocolate is secured, other Kit Kats will join the scheme and possibly other Nestle products, meaning a significant chunk of the chocolate market will be part of the ethical movement.

Cadbury’s Dairy Milk brand is the biggest – because it stretches across different products such as Wispa, now Dairy Milk Bubbly, and Buttons – but if you compare Kit Kats with pure Dairy Milks, the Nestle product is considerably bigger.  Just over 1 billion Kit Kats are sold in Britain every year, compared with 350 million Dairy Milks.

Steve Chalke, founder of Stop the Traffik and the United Nations Special Advisor on Community Action Against Human Trafficking said:

“We want to see that this is more than a token gesture. So, we intend to keep the pressure on Nestlé until their commitment is global and product-wide.”

To me this seems a great start, and we hope that it widens to all chocolate in the UK.