Twin Trading
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| Type | Charitable organization, Alternative trading organisation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1985 |
| Headquarters | London, England, UK |
| Products | Coffee, Nuts, Cocoa |
| Website | www.twin.org.uk |
Overview
Twin Trading is a leading alternative trading company in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1985 and is based in London.
Twin Trading is wholly owned by Twin, a registered charity and membership organisation, with 32 farmer co-operative members and 27 individual members.[1]
Twin's stated mission is “To increase fair and sustainable access to international markets for smallholder producers in the global south.” It seeks to achieve this by working with smallholder cooperatives to organise, develop infrastructure, gain certification to Fairtrade, organic standards and others, to improve the quality of their product and to overcome market barriers. Through its trading arm, Twin can create market access for the producer groups it works with, trading their products in European and US Fairtrade and speciality coffee markets. The organisation works with over 50 farmer organisations in 18 countries representing an estimated 400,000 smallholder farmers.[2]
Twin works with smallholder organisations largely in Africa (DR Congo, Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda) and Latin America (Bolivia, Nicaragua and Peru) in the areas of coffee, nuts and cocoa.[3] It trades with organisations in these and a number of other countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia, buying green coffee and nuts.[4]
Timeline
1985 Twin and Twin Trading established (launched as the Third World Information Network with the support of the Greater London Council)
1987 First coffee beans imported from Mexico
1988 Coffee sold through Oxfam and Traidcraft
1991 Cafédirect launched by Twin with Oxfam, Traidcraft and Equal Exchange Trading
1997 Twin's Producer Partnership Programme officially created to work with smallholders in developing countries; Twin also launched Day Chocolate Company (now Divine Chocolate) with Ghana cocoa cooperative Kuapa Kokoo (now Divine Chocolate)
2001 Twin helped launch AgroFair UK – the sales and marketing arm of AgroFair launched (selling Fairtrade fresh fruit)
2007 Twin launched Fairtrade nut company Liberation Foods CIC, which it co-owns with a number of producer organisations including National Smallholder Farmers' Association of Malawi (NASFAM); Twin also became a membership organisation in 2007 - inviting producer organisations in Latin America, Africa and Asia to join (now 32 producer organisation members and 27 individual members)
2011 Twin helped to launch Afri-Nut Ltd, the first smallholder producer-owned groundnut processing plant in Malawi
References
External links
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