Fair Trade Tea In China
October happens to be “Fair Trade Month”. Fair trade may or may not be related to the Fair Trade Certified logo used to sell products that come from, to use the old phrase, “The Third World.” Is the second largest economy in the world, still in the Third World? I’m speaking of course of China, for those who think it is still Japan. How many fair trade projects are on going in Japan now that their status has slipped? Will the US be eligible for certifications when the Chinese economy becomes number one? There are quite a few tomato pickers in Florida that would like to vote democratically about funds distribution. A lot to think about but I can only examine this issue where I have experience: tea in China.
Fair Trade was originally intended to help small businesses in third world countries. Workers and farmers could join together in democratic co-ops, be given access 
to broader markets, and receive fair payment for their products. This is what Fair Trade USA says today “That’s why we’ve enabled a democratic system where each community determines how their funds are used.” Wikipedia has a pretty good history of the fair trade movement starting in the 18th Century.
Fair trade certification has always been pretty meaningless within the Chinese tea industry, or any other industry in China, for that matter. Now can you imagine a democratically organized co-op of tea farmers or workers in China?
The Chinese Communist Party, which owns all of the land and has a hostile position towards democratically organized groups, no matter what the purpose, governs China. Do you think the Fair Trade USA is bringing democracy to the Chinese countryside? Do you think that the community as defined by Fair Trade USA is the Chinese government? It is true that the government is no longer directly running business, but it does mean that the owners of what used to be government business have most often gained the business through corrupt relationships with local officials.
Fair trade is in the news due to the new split between Fair Trade USA and the European FLO (as reported by Dan Bolton in the World Tea News), Fair Trade USA has furthered the gap between the original, core values of the founders of the movement and the marketing-focused business that Fair trade certifying has become, especially in the US. One of the main reasons for the split with the FLO was Fair Trade USA’s desire to certify large corporate plantations. Fair Trade has become a big business with a large and growing market in America, where consumers trust labels and certifications without worry. Does this mean that the large plantations Fair Trade USA would like to certify (now that they have split from the FLO) will organize their workers democratically, and they will get to determine how the money gets used?
According to the World Tea News in a separate article reported that Numi Organic Tea is the nation’s leading brand of Fair Trade certified tea and tisane imports. The article singles out a Chinese producer, Dazhangshan Organic Tea Farmer Association or DOTFA. Allow me to quote the article just in case you are not a subscriber to the WTN:
‘The certifier cited examples such as the Dazhangshan Organic Tea Farmer Association in China which was able to purchase new tea processing equipment to improve the quality of its tea and the living conditions of its members. “Members of the association, nearly 35 percent of which are women, now make nearly 20 percent more than other families in the area,” according to Fair Trade USA.’
So who supplied the statistics that Fair Trade USA used in the above quote? Do you think that Fair Trade USA freely interviewed the peasant workers to gather these stats about women and the surrounding workers that were making 20% less than the DOTFA workers were? Although it is certainly true that tea workers in China already do better than agricultural workers, for most other products, but that is true fair trade or not, and I don’t know where to get the stats, maybe the government.
Why is it that we don’t think through this kind of marketing, and we are willing to believe the absurd claims and buy the product based a logo on the back.
I had a bizarre experience in Yunnan this year when I happened to have a meeting with an ethnic group’s spiritual leader, the Bulong Ethnic Minority in the Jingmai area. The Bulong that have a culture where tea is at the heart of their spiritual beliefs, and have cared for an ancient tea forest for more than a thousand years, and have been advertised as a model of Fair Trade USA’s program in China for many years. They have recently disappeared from their website.
When I asked the leader of the Bulong about their dealings with Fair Trade USA and the affects of their involvement in the program, I heard a very interesting story. 
I was first surprised to hear that the group had never received a certification, or at least the document saying so, same with their organic certification. An American tea company had come by to spend the night on three separate occasions, each time dropping off some money, which the Bulong were very grateful for, and was put to good use, but what is completely bizarre, the tea company never bought any tea from them because they said it was too expensive to sell in the US. Tea from ancient trees hasn’t come cheap for centuries. So how did that exchange, as surreal as it sounds, end up Fair Trade USA certified?
We could look into other Fair Trade USA products originating from China and find some similar kind of bargain struck that at least doesn’t line up with what the purchasers of the product think the logo represents in principle. The Fair Trade USA website currently lists three Chinese producers, not many out of the 70,000 plus that exist there.
It is true that China has many poor farmers and workers. Is Fair Trade Certification going to actually change this reality? There will be no meaningful impact in China, but it sure makes selling products easier.
Where does that leave us as consumers in America? We can certainly stand to look past mere package labels. But perhaps Fair Trade USA only opened its certification to plantations and corporate farming to be more “inclusive” so companies like Honest Tea, a branch of Coca Cola, can get in on the deal. Fair Trade USA is also hoping to partner with Walmart, Target, and Costco.
This is further proof that the absurd can be effectively marketed in America. Keep in mind that the little extra you pay for a Fair Trade product from China may be deceptive marketing. As a consumer it is a much better buying choice to reward quality. Don’t compare tea to coffee; wine is a more appropriate metaphor. When you look for quality you are rewarding skill at the source, and the team of professionals that produce a tea. There is no need for fair trade because skilled workers already are getting paid better than the unskilled workers that are making commercial grade tea. If you focus on quality in a global economy, you are, in the end, making a more meaningful purchase. Rewarding skill and substance always has more impact at the source; so don’t reward the clever marketing of middlemen.
Just as I was writing this blog, the WTN (Dan Bolton) published another article you should read if you are interested in this issue. It is about the confusion happening with vendors because of the break between FLO and FTUSA. Please note how the word “plantation” has now been substituted with the word “Estate”. I 
can say without exception there is no tea being grown on “Estates” in China.
I sometimes hear a customer say, ‘I will only buy tea that is fair trade certified.’ Well, for all of those socially conscious consumers looking for logos, your options just got expanded.
Another fascinating article, Austin! Where do you dig up the ideas for these pieces?
I was especially struck by your comments that "As a consumer it is a much better buying choice to reward quality." and "Rewarding skill and substance always has more impact at the source; so don’t reward the clever marketing of middlemen." Thought-provoking statements, for sure.
Thanks for writing (yet again) about topics rarely spoken of elsewhere.
Best wishes,
Peter
Peter- Thanks for your comment. I think when people think about what goes into quality especially when it comes to tea, but I think that it is true with other products as well, in a global economy, when it comes to labor, is that the skilled worker that makes the difference. In general you can say that skill produces quality, while unskilled produces quantity. Skill cost quit a bit more that unskilled. Social conscious consumers are willing to pay more, why not may more for quality, rather than a for better pay for unskilled workers that work big corporate farms, (lets call them estates) The small skilled farmer produces better tasting chickens then are produced in the chicken factory. Skilled workers are much happier because they have some pride and satisfaction for a good days work, then some poor migrant worker doing back breaking unskilled labor for low pay to produce cheap products. The irony is that fai trade was initially looking to help provide a market for those skilled workers that could not reach markets like those in the US, now Fair Trade USA is looking to sanctify the corporate plantations (estates) so that we can have cheap tea, with a marketing blessing.
Many thanks for this insightful post, Austen. I have often wondered how relevant Fairtrade certification is in China when the corporate-plantation model that we see in countries like India and Sri Lanka never made a mark in the Chinese tea industry. Regarding organic certification, with so many of your teas sourced from pristine environments and high in remote misty mountains, many Chinese farmers would be forgiven for not seeking certification for something conceived of in the west to meet a growing demand from consumers to know that what we are eating and drinking is not contaminated with chemicals and pollutant as our own food manufacturing processes have typical allowed. I also read your 2009 post on Fair Trade with great interest. At that time you said that IMO certification was just starting to be implemented in China. I was particularly interested in how the certification was not simply based on economics (price guidelines). Rather, to achieve certification, issues such as health insurance and education must be met. Importantly, this demonstrates that the definition for success is not always the bottom line. Building human capital is priceless. Austen, do you have an update on the take-up of IMO certification amongst tea farmers in China?
Simone- Thank you for your comment and your continuing interest in the tea workers in China. The IMO certification has not really taken of for a couple of reasons. First the decreasing leverage that foreign companies have as the importance of exporting declines because of the growing strength of the domestic market. This has also affected the numbers of international organic certifications being issued, while there is a growth in domestic organic certifications. Secondly, in 2008 the Chinese government passed laws requiring that producers pay into social insurance programs. This only affected people working on the production side of the tea making process, but did not include farmers or pickers. As the price of tea has continued to grow however pay for tea pickers, which very often are migrant workers, has risen dramatically since 2008, and the price that farmers are getting from producers rises with the price of tea as well. The dynamics of the market have made fair trade oriented certifications, like the ones that IMO was suggesting less relevant. In most cases the local governments are advocated for the local peasants. The Chinese Communist Party is very interested in keeping labor unrest to a minimum especially in the countryside.
Thanks for the additional points Austen.
Such a sad tale! These are such informative posts. I hope you continue to post them. There are so many of such logos and seals out there that one has to be skeptical without adequate research and information. "Cage free" chickens are hardly "range free" and what "range free" means isn't consistent. Thanks for such an informative post. By the way, I spoke with a Chinese colleague about tea and we enjoyed some of your fine tea. I mentioned that one of the things I've learned from reading your posts, was that to get good tea, you need to buy from a seller you trust. And she replied that when buying something (actually, she said "anything") in China these days, you're going to get cheated, unless you know and trust your supplier, or really know your stuff.
Stanley
Thanks for your comment. Surely deceptive marketing is a problem. I hope that what you take away from what I wrote in this piece is that tea workers in China are doing better than other agricultural workers because tea, if made by skilled workers sells at a premium. Certainly as a tea buyer if you are a professional and know what you are doing you are less likely to be cheated. It does take a long time and you have to have a lot of experience to source tea well in China, but still I don't feel as you friend does that things are so bad for consumers that everyone is being cheated buying everything. I China and in the United States as well, the more informed you are as a customer, the better you are and getting what you expect out of a purchase. Chinese customers and American customers a like need to be able to be aware of how the truth is bend for the sale. Marketing is powerful, and is studied as a psychological science here, so the ancient rule 'the buyer beware' is always applicable.
Thanks, yes, you're quite right. Indeed, it does require us to be well-informed and also to have a healthy perspective. My colleague is a bit like other Chinese colleagues I know, who are much more critical of China than I am. In any case, yes I did come away from reading your post, that tea workers in China are doing better than other agricultural workers. That's also the impression I have from your generous posting of photos from your trips. The tea workers do seem to be doing much better than farmers I've seen in Guizhou province and elsewhere in China. By the way, you do a great service in helping us become better informed consumers!
I hope that Guizhou will catch up with Yunnan and Sichuan. They do have some good tea there and it is on my list of places to establish as Seven Cups sources. Next year for sure. Thanks for your kind words.
I was just reading an article about how up to a third of Chinese tea is processed by prison labor. I never realized this before. I comfortably sit here enjoying my cup of Lapsang Souchong and wonder if a malnurished poltical prisoner somewhere was forced to make this tea. Quite disturbing.
I was looking forward to coming to Tuscon to buy some puerh cakes at Seven Cups. But right now, I don't feel like buying any Chinese tea.
Your thoughts.
I'm not sure were you read that article Rich, but tell you that in the many years that I have been onthe ground in China I have never come across any prisoners working in tea gardens. Would you mind pasting in a link to that story?
I did find an article written by Bridget Farrel that was written in 2000. It wasn't true then and is certainly not true now. The Chinese tea workers currently are the best paid tea workers in the world by significant margins. China is currently the largest producer of tea in the world, most of which is consumed inside of China. Is true that during the Cultural Revolution people were forced to work I theta industry for political reasons. That time has long since passed and China is a completely different country now.
It was the Farrel article in Tea Muse from 2000 that I happened upon, after I had read elsewhere about China's prison labor system, I googled "china prison labor and tea" to see what came up. It kind of freaked me out. But, based on what I've seen from your site, you have much more actual on the ground experience in China than me (which would be zip) — and would be better informed about the issue than me. And very conscienentious about your sourcing. Thanks for putting my mind more at ease about Chinese tea, it's something I enjoy a lot.
It may not make a significant difference given the total number of producers, as you pointed out, but the difference that it makes to the individuals is immense and more than worthwhile. Just because a lot of people are suffering doesn't mean you can't comfort anyone.
Hi, I was wondering if I could quote some of this article in a blog I am writing. My blog entry will mainly be explaining why we don't sell certified fair trade teas from China. I wanted to end with your quote on respecting the skill that goes in to making the tea. My main point in my blog will be about the demand for tea in China being so high that even if we were to approach a farm and offer a stupidly low price, the family would turn us away and move on to the next vendor interested. I'm focusing on working together with farmers and the community. I will link to this article and your teashop in my entry. You can see past entries here http://www.lulin-teas.com/blog/
Yes, of course you can. Thanks for asking. It looks from your site that you guys are doing a great job. Thanks for giving us credit in your post. A lot of people just steal our content. Good luck with your company.
Austin
Thanks, I haven't posted it yet but I'll let you know when I do!
You can view the blog entry here http://www.lulin-teas.com/blog/why-we-dont-sell-f…
[...] “This is further proof that the absurd can be effectively marketed in America. Keep in mind that the little extra you pay for a Fair Trade product from China may be deceptive marketing. As a consumer it is a much better buying choice to reward quality. Don’t compare tea to coffee; wine is a more appropriate metaphor. When you look for quality you are rewarding skill at the source, and the team of professionals that produce a tea. There is no need for fair trade because skilled workers already are getting paid better than the unskilled workers that are making commercial grade tea. If you focus on quality in a global economy, you are, in the end, making a more meaningful purchase. Rewarding skill and substance always has more impact at the source; so don’t reward the clever marketing of middlemen.” (Click here to see the whole entry) [...]
Hi Austin
I really appreciate your insights on fair trade and tea. After more than two decades in development work and the last ten years in fair trade coffee, I must disagree with any generalized comments that fair trade isn't real or whatever. We have been fighting Paul Rice and his money machine at Transfair/FairTrade USA since the beginning, trying to keep certification meaningful. Of course the battle is pretty much lost as that organization is gutting what fair trade can and should be about. At the same time, for those of us who work directly with producers, we can share a hundred stories about how fair trade really works when it is done the way it is marketed. To me, fair trade is a tool in our toolbox, and we couldn't make any serious claims about it if we didn't have direct knowledge about what goes on in the farms and coops we work with.
Just a comment about your assertion that quality therefore means higher pay for workers. That souinds logical, but neither coffee nor tea are logical markets. The owners of tea plantations may certainly make more because they sell better tea, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the workers get paid better or that their conditions are better. Further, as you showed in the article above, many farmers don't even know what their product is being sold for. A great example. Several years ago, Starbucks sold a Black Apron unique coffee for about $26.00 per pound. The coffee was from Ethiopia, from a worker's paradise and environmentally responsible farm. The truth, which was exposed in the Sacramento Bee, was that Starbucks only paid about $1.60 for the coffee, the land was owned by the richest guy in Ethiopia who deforested 5000 virgin forested acres to create the farm, etc. The point is that price and even quality don't guarantee fairness or justice or anything else.
Thanks again for your insights and hard work!
Austin,
This is probably the 3rd time I've read this article and I felt compelled to comment on this insightful and intelligent treatise on this topic.
Like yourself albeit to a far lesser extent, my involvement and experience in the industry is primarily China & Taiwan based. Lost in the shuffle of the romantic notion of caring for the downtrodden is the rapid economic growth of China.
The notion that the world's second largest economy requires a minimum wage scheme that is only marginally above slavery levels is laughable. At those wages, especially for Southern & Coastal China, there will be no one left in the fields.
In my frequent travels to China I have came across numerous growers or representatives of growers based in the wholesale markets of big Chinese cities. The notion that these growers are ill-informed and at the mercy of Shylock-like merchants underpaying them grossly while they struggle to make ends meet is absurd.
It would have been easier and more popular for you to slap a 'fair trade' label but in the long run I'm sure you agree that would run contrary to its original lofty goals.
There aren't many retailers whom I can say this unequivocally but I am proud to be in the same industry as you.
Cheers,
Derek Chew
[...] Even if workers wanted to implement FT practices, it might not be possible to do so, see “Fair Trade in China” (Seven Cups of Tea). As Fair Trade is a consumer-led movement, it is difficult to imagine that [...]