As committed and hardworking supporters of fair trade for almost 30 years, we feel your correspondents (Letters, 27 July) missed the point of “The death of fair trade?” (The long read, 23 July) which showed how large corporations are trying to circumvent fair trade and undermine the highly successful Fairtrade mark with their own “fairly traded” and the like. Rest assured, the Fairtrade mark remains an absolutely trustworthy guarantee of internationally agreed standards.

Tim Gossling blames the EU for “not allowing” the production of Divine chocolate in Ghana. This is not true. The EU is primarily a trading bloc, it imposes tariffs on products from outside that bloc. That’s what trading blocs do. It benefits UK manufacturers and farmers, too. No wonder the TUC, CBI and NFU are all appalled at the thought of similar tariffs being slapped on our products after Brexit.

As for the importance to producers, we refer you to “No guns, no drugs, no atrocities, no rape. No murder. Just bananas…” (The Observer, 25 February 2018), which shows how incredibly important farmers and communities in Colombia know fair trade to be. And we can buy their Fairtrade-certified bananas at the Co-op, our corner shop in the heart of this small South Yorkshire town.

Joy and Richard Webb

Fairtrade in Penistone, Penistone, Sheffield

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