Open letter against Unfair Trading Practices
Farmers worldwide often earn too little for the work they do. Big companies set the prices, while the people who produce our food can’t make a living. Fair trade shows that things can be different – fairer for both people and the planet. During this year's Fair Trade Week (1 - 11 October), we urge people to buy fair trade chocolate and sign our open letter for UTP's.
Unfair trading practices: a global problem
Farmers worldwide are confronted with unfair trading practices. They are often paid prices that are too low for their products – often less than the cost of production. In many cases, this leads to poverty, unsustainable farming, and even child labor.
Chocolate: a bitter aftertaste for cocoa farmers
Power relations in production chains are skewed. This is painfully clear in the cocoa sector.
- Five million small-scale cocoa farmers produce the majority of the world’s cocoa supply.
- In countries like Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, up to 58% of them live below the poverty line.
- Meanwhile, the profits of the four largest chocolate companies increase every year by an average of 16%.
Without fair prices, farmers cannot work sustainably and are forced to resort to quick and harmful practices such as deforestation. Child labor persists because families have no other way to survive. School is expensive, and every family member must – quite literally – contribute a cent.
Stop exploitation, support fair EU legislation
Voluntary initiatives are nice, but not enough. As long as the system remains flawed, we keep running into the same limits. That’s why Oxfam is calling for EU legislation that prohibits buying products below the costs of sustainable production – both within and outside the EU.
Sign our open letter
In November 2025, European policymakers will meet to review the law on unfair trading practices. We must raise our voices now to secure a guarantee of fair prices.
To the attention of the European Commission,
Dear Mr. Fabien Santini and Ms. Sophie Helaine,
The people who produce our food hardly earn enough to survive. That is unacceptable.
- European farmers earn on average 36% less than the average wage.
- Between 2005 and 2020, 5 million farms disappeared in Europe.
Even in the Belgian chocolate sector – which accounts for 14% of our food industry and €77 billion in revenue – the imbalances are evident.
- Around 5 million small-scale farmers, mainly in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, supply the bulk of the cocoa.
- Up to 58% live below the poverty line, while the four largest chocolate companies see their profits rise by 16% each year.
Farmers worldwide are expected to be cheap, sustainable, and productive – while competing against subsidized industrial players. The power relations in the chain are fundamentally skewed. This broken system causes poverty, child labor, and environmental damage. Because prices are too low, farmers cannot work sustainably and are forced out of necessity into harmful practices. The future of our food and of our children is at stake.
In 2024, farmers across Europe demanded change. Now it is up to you to act. I ask you to:
- Thoroughly review and strengthen EU legislation on Unfair Trading Practices, so that producers worldwide are fairly compensated.
- Introduce and enforce a ban on below-cost selling throughout the entire food chain.
Sincerely,