Fairtrade Certified Cadbury Dairy Milk hits NZ shelves

Cadbury® Dairy Milk® milk chocolate, New Zealand’s best-selling block chocolate, will now include Fairtrade Certified™ products in its range. Fairtrade Certified™ Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate will be starting to hit shelves in supermarkets and dairies throughout the country from today.

In a new-look pack and with the same great taste, Fairtrade Certified™ Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate allows Kiwi chocolate lovers to help improve the lives of Fairtrade cocoa farmers and their families in developing countries.

Fairtrade Certification is about providing a better deal for producers in developing countries by setting a fair and stable price for their produce and providing an additional Fairtrade premium for investment in local community development. This results in improved working conditions and helps enable Fairtrade farmers to take control of their lives and create a better future.

Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate products becoming Fairtrade Certified™ will increase Fairtrade chocolate sales 20 fold, and double last year’s total sales of Fairtrade Certified™ products in New Zealand and Australia. In Ghana, more than 45,000 Ghanaian farmers will immediately benefit from Cadbury’s global move to Fairtrade Certification for Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate products.

Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand Executive Director Steve Knapp says, “From today, lovers of Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate will be able to make their purchase in the knowledge that they are supporting a brighter future for very small scale cocoa farmers, their families and their villages.

“This is a real milestone for Fairtrade and for cocoa growers in Ghana. Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate will create a step change in awareness of Fairtrade here in New Zealand, while in Ghana it could potentially transform the lives and opportunities for thousands of people in cocoa-growing communities.”

Cadbury New Zealand Managing Director Matthew Oldham says, “The scale of Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate going Fairtrade is massive with more than 5.7 million Fairtrade Certified™ Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate blocks in New Zealand and an estimated 350 million Fairtrade Certified™ Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate blocks globally in 2010.

“Kiwis who choose Fairtrade Certified™ Cadbury Dairy Milk milk chocolate are not only treating themselves, but helping to do more good for producers in the developing world.”

The move is the result of nearly two years of work with Cadbury’s Fairtrade partners globally. It follows more than 100 years of pioneering ethical chocolate production, including the ground-breaking Cadbury Cocoa Partnership where Cadbury is providing NZ$120 million over 10 years to improve the lives of cocoa farmers.

Nine products in the Cadbury Dairy Milk range, including 50g bars, 100g, 200g, 350g blocks and sharepacks, are now Fairtrade Certified™. The new-look pack design also confirms the return to a cocoa butter-only chocolate recipe across the entire Cadbury Dairy Milk block chocolate range.

About Fairtrade

Fairtrade is a unique Certification and Labeling system which seeks to address the imbalance of power in some trading relationships, unstable markets and the injustices of some conventional trade. Fairtrade empowers producers, tackles poverty and promotes development. Globally through a groundswell of consumer support, Fairtrade has achieved significant market share across many products in 20 countries over the last 20 years. In 2009, Australian and New Zealand retail sales of Fairtrade Certified & Labelled products grew by over 50% to just over NZ$64 million and in the last six years since the first Fairtrade Certified & Labeled products went on sale in both countries, cumulative retail sales figures have surpassed NZ$155 million.

· Currently more than five million people – farmers, producers, workers and their families – across 58 developing countries in Africa, Asia, Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean benefit from the Fairtrade system.
· A product is Fairtrade Certified if it carries the Fairtrade Label – an easy way for consumers to recognise and choose products that have met internationally agreed Fairtrade Standards.
· Fairtrade delivers a better deal for farmers and producers in the developing world through:

• Ø The Fairtrade Price - Fairtrade is a certification system which provides developing country farmers and producers with a designated fair price for their produce, helping protect them from damaging fluctuations in world market prices.
• Ø The Fairtrade Premium - Fairtrade also provides these farmers and producers with an additional sum of money for investment in social, economic and environmental development - helping them grow their businesses and invest in their communities by building roads, schools and hospitals.
• Ø Environmentally sustainable farming methods
• Ø Security of long-term contracts
• Ø Improved working conditions
• Ø Support in gaining knowledge and skills needed to operate successfully in the global economy

For more on the difference Fairtrade makes for developing country farmers and their communities visit www.fairtrade.org.nz.