Fair trade between rural development and international trade - First step of analysis

Nowadays, the globalization concept represents the leading theme within the international trade and its influence is so strong as to stimulate the homogenization and standardization, more or less pushed, of world food consumption. This also involves an high competition for the conquest of markets and profits, a discrepancy between the banalization of consumptions on one side and on the other the search for food quality and typical features and, consequently, the promotion of the regional and local characters in comparison to the standardization of the supply. These contrasts have offered the opportunity for some distribution and production alternative models, which aim at the development of new products with specific characters not necessarily intrinsic or organoleptic. Actually the point is to add to them a social value (linked to the environment, the respect of the human being, the nature of the product and the behavioural ethic). Within this frame the fair trade has developed, though it was born in the early ‘70s. This paper intends to introduce the guidelines of this new form of trade, showing some data on its spreading and how the aims of this movement can play an important role in the world directives for the development of countries and global exchanges. It is necessary to specify that there is no official definition of fair trade; according to the Committee on Commodity problems of the FAO, every trade relation could be defined fair when it respects some basic criteria, although not legislatively based: direct trading links with producers in the developing countries; guaranteed minimum price to producers, different by each country; price premium to producers; credit allowances or advance payments; long term commercial relationships. Since the end of the ‘80s, thank to the diffusion of fair-trade labels licensed by independent organizations involved in monitoring the respect of these rules, food products can be sold in through conventional marketing channels and this has contributed very much to their spreading and knowledge to the consumers. The tie between non-conventional trade and conventional distribution channels represents one of the foundations for an economic and rational development so that this movement is not confined in a niche for a few idealists. At present, world agricultural politics are focused on the issues of rural development: in developed contries it includes the recovery of marginal depopulating territories; in other regions of the world this must be seen as the productive and social development of the interested areas. The fair trade could answer to the needs of these political lines favouring an economic indipendence of the workers and trying, with respect to WTO indications on global exchanges, to contain price supports. Moreover the supply coud be deal basing on the movements of the demand, in the respect of the economics basic rules. Ultimate objective of this paper is also to evaluate if this fair trade movement have an influence on the behavioural models of the actors involved in the international trade.