7 November 2007

AMSTERDAM – 'Fair trade chocolate letters' will be available in fair trade shops and some supermarkets in the Netherlands from Wednesday. By buying this chocolate letter, consumers contribute to a better life for cocoa bean farmers in developing countries.

"The letter is made under fair labour conditions and for a fair price and does not harm the environment," the 'Green Sint,' a Sint Niklaas dressed in a green cape and mitre, said at the launch in Amsterdam.  The chocolate letter is an initiative of development organisation Oxfam Novib and Tony's Chocolonely.

Oxfam Novib hopes Sint Niklaas can help raise awareness among consumers for fair trade products. "The chocolate letter is an easy to grasp symbol for a somewhat complicated message," says campaign director Jan Bouke Wijbrandi. Oxfam Novib also created the 'Green Sint' to call more attention to manufacturers of Sinterklaas gifts in developing countries.

Tony's Chocolonely, the company owned by television presenter Teun van de Keuken, has produced 100,000 fair trade chocolate letters. Only ten different letters are available at the moment, and only in milk chocolate. More letters and flavours will be added to the assortment next year. Every year the Dutch buy 20 million chocolate letters, according to research by Tony's Chocolonely.

[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2007]

Subject: Dutch news