The main ingredients of chocolate, such as cocoa and cane sugar, cannot be grown in the fields outside the Zotter chocolate factory. That’s why we source fair traded cocoa, sugar and coffee from certified organic production. Since 2001 we make regular visits to the cocoa growing regions. For us, quality is paramount from bean to bar and begins with the ingredients and cultivation on site. We buy high-quality cocoa from selected cooperatives in Peru, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Panama, Ecuador, Guatemala, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Colombia, Madagascar, Tanzania, São Tomé, Togo, Ghana and Uganda.
Our entire business is Fair Trade verified. We are a member of WFTO – the World Fair Trade Organization, which is the umbrella organization for global fair trade. The WFTO monitors business compliance with the 10 principles of fair trade like transparency, respect for the environment, the payment of fair prices and no use of child labour among others. We use our own FAIR logo because we take a step beyond those directives. We want to guarantee our customers the highest quality of our raw materials, that we buy directly from the cacao cooperatives and also ensure complete physical traceability.
The WFTO is the only global network consisting of suppliers and producers along the entire fair-trade value-added chain, from production up to retail. The WFTO’s goal is to improve living conditions for disadvantaged producers and suppliers by giving them better market opportunities. At the same time, the WFTO is trying to influence the political landscape in order to attain a long-term improvement of global trading conditions. The WFTO guarantee is a monitoring system for its members, connecting internal and external supervision and oversight to raise the transparency and credibility factor for fair-trade organisations.
The WFTO system consists of several elements, an extensive self-assessment component plus external auditing. To enhance the traceability factor, the WFTO has introduced the supply chain management branch in addition to its 10 basic principles. Within the supply chain management, each member organisation is obligated to create its own internal monitoring system for all suppliers and producers from those disadvantaged geographical regions of the south that do not have a WFTO-recognised oversight system already in place (i.e. Fairtrade International, Naturland Fair etc.). This ensures that the 10 principles are adhered to by every one of these agents. The WFTO audits entire corporations, not just individual products, which means a member company adheres entirely and 100% to fair-trade standards, from top to bottom.
For more on this, go to www.wfto.com
As chocolate manufacturers, cocoa farmers are important partners for us, as they play a decisive role in the quality of our chocolate. That is why we buy from cocoa cooperatives that are certified organic, operate in accordance with fair trade guidelines and can supply high-quality cocoa. In other words, they are very experienced in cocoa cultivation. We pay the world market price plus a premium for high quality, as well as the fixed organic premium and the Fair Trade premium. This means we get the best organic and Fair Trade quality cocoa and the cocoa farmers receive a fair price, which is paid by the cooperative. A win-win situation. It is worth growing organic cocoa for the cocoa farmers, we get good cocoa and can make good chocolate from it.
Fair trade is, as the name suggests, a trade relationship that is fair. A business relationship between equals. Our trading partners are more than 20 cocoa cooperatives in 16 countries in the Global South. The cooperative is a kind of association, a union of cocoa farmers. Individual cocoa farmers are members of the cooperative. This is because many of the cocoa farmers only cultivate small areas, from 1.5 hectares upwards. On average, around 5 hectares. Organic cocoa farmers cultivate cocoa in mixed cropping, together with other plants, which is good for biodiversity and also saves water, as mixed cropping does not require as much irrigation. Of course, these areas do not yield huge harvests, which is why there are cooperatives to which cocoa farmers sell their cocoa. Unlike bananas, which are a finished product, cocoa undergoes several processing steps, such as fermentation and drying, before it can be sold as dry cocoa to chocolate manufacturers. The world market price + organic + fair trade premiums always refer to one tonne of dry cocoa. Individual cocoa farmers sell so-called wet cocoa or sometimes whole fruits to the cooperative. The cooperative employs staff who ferment, dry and sort the cocoa. The cooperative also takes care of organic and fair trade certification and sales and price negotiations. Therefore, individual cocoa farmers do not receive the current world market price, but a daily price set by the cooperative, i.e. the association of cocoa farmers. The cooperative is also responsible for organic inspections and compliance with fair standards. Organic farming can be reliably monitored by checking for pesticide residues. Each delivery is also checked again at the port to ensure that the cocoa has not been contaminated during transport. We also carry out regular organic inspections at our premises.
Fair trade is more difficult to monitor, as you cannot simply take random samples of the product. We have to rely on certification systems and regular inspections and training by local cooperatives. No monitoring system is 100 per cent secure, but it works and is better than doing nothing and having no security at all.
When we purchase a tonne of cocoa, we always pay the world market price + quality premium + organic premium + fair trade premium. We buy directly from the cooperative when we purchase a whole container (approx. 20 tonnes); if the cooperative is too small or we need smaller quantities, we buy through a trader who transfers the entire cocoa container and divides the delivery between us and other buyers.
Over the years, we have had very good experiences with fair trade and work with highly committed and innovative cocoa cooperatives. In the cocoa cooperatives, the members themselves decide how they want to invest the fair trade premium and the money they earn. This ranges from reforestation projects and humus formation to the construction of schools, infrastructure and medical care. The daily cocoa price that the cooperative pays its farmers is in turn heavily dependent on demand. Unfortunately, the reality is that more organic and fair trade cocoa is produced than is actually in demand. If the cooperative cannot find buyers for its organic and fair trade cocoa, it has to be sold more cheaply as conventional cocoa. This means that cocoa farmers receive less money for their certified cocoa. This is of course frustrating for cocoa farmers and often leads to disagreements.
We purchase all our cocoa, sugar and coffee in certified organic and fair trade quality. This is our contribution to fairer and more environmentally friendly trade. And perhaps global demand for organic and fair trade cocoa will increase at some point, so that more cocoa farmers can benefit from it.
