Fairtrade reports €1 billion premium boost for coffee producers

Fairtrade said producer organisations earned more than €1 billion in Fairtrade Premium across its 2021-2025 strategy, but the sharper question for coffee is how much of that money changed day-to-day buying and selling. One independent trade figure says certified cooperatives sold, on average, 35% of their coffee on Fairtrade terms in 2023, a reminder that premium income and certified volume are not the same thing. At its annual General Assembly in Bonn, Germany, Fairtrade used the close of the strategy period to argue that fairness is becoming a supply-chain tool, not just a slogan.

The report also said Fairtrade established 12 new partnerships, secured €59 million in fundraising, and supported 111 producer projects focused on climate resilience, women’s empowerment, youth opportunities and workers’ rights. Fairtrade is leaning hard on those numbers as proof that its model does more than pay a label fee. Its annual report says a review of 122 studies found Fairtrade positively benefited producers in economic security, climate resilience and women’s opportunities, while more than half a million farmer plots were mapped and new digital tools were developed for geolocation data management.

Coffee remains one of the clearest tests of whether those gains are visible on the ground. Fairtrade says 775,709 coffee farmers are in its system, across 592 Fairtrade coffee producer organisations, and 74% of those organisations are in Latin America and the Caribbean. In Latin America, 29 producer organisations were directly selling Fairtrade-labelled products such as coffee, wine and juices in their own regions, while Brazil ended 2025 with 40 Fairtrade licensees, including 14 coffee cooperatives. Those figures point to real reach, but they also show how concentrated the footprint still is inside a much larger producer base.

That is why the next strategy matters as much as the one just closed. Fairtrade’s 2026-2028 priorities include a global sustainability programme for bananas, cocoa and coffee, a major evolution of its Standards, and new digital tools for geolocation data management and EUDR readiness in coffee and coca supply chains. Marike Runneboom de Peña said, "fairness is essential for building resilient supply chains and sustainable businesses," and the new plan is meant to scale that promise further. For coffee, the real test is no longer whether Fairtrade can post a big premium figure. It is whether more producers can sell more of their crop on Fairtrade terms, with traceability and compliance built into the way the market works.