English Articles

15 years ago I went on my first trip to try and find a rubber producer willing to supply a few 100 kg of rubber under ‘Fair Trade’ conditions for the foot/soccer balls I was trying to sell at the time. At the end of 2020, the members of the Fair Rubber Association (FRA), which […]

The FRA introduced its first stand alone criteria document in 2018 (before that it had relied on other related criteria sets). After three years of experience in all countries where we have supplier partners, the criteria document has been revised: No basics needed to be changed – but the explanations of which regulations apply to

The Global Platform for Sustain-able Natural Rubber, originally founded in October 2018, has recently published a document with the title ‘GPSNR Desired State’: “The Global Platform for Sustain-able Natural Rubber (GPSNR) is committed to creating a sustain-able global natural rubber value chain by ensuring high standards in the following areas: Environmental, Social, Economic.”The document then

Schwalbe, the world’s premier brand of bicycle tyres, has joined the Fair Rubber Association (FRA) and produces the world’s first Fairly Traded tyres: The‘Marathon E-plus’ for e-bikes. Second in line: “The tyre for cargo bikes ‘Pick-Up’easily gets any load of up to 300 kg rolling”. The launch fell victim to Covid, as the bicycle fair

Despite Covid travel restrictions it was possible to welcome a new supplier partner into the Fair Trade system of the Fair Rubber Association: 44 small rubber farmers in the Hat Yai region (Thailand), who supply to a local processor, registered their association as “KLONG POM PHATTHANA 95”. The group consists of men and women, aged

You are not alone if you are fed up with all the devastating news surrounding the Covid pandemic and its impact. The Fair Rubber Association (FRA) and its work has not been spared either: Supply chains have shut down because factories had to close when workers became infected, travel became difficult to impossible for groups

The decision on how to spend Fair Trade premium payments rests with the primary producers. In the case of plantations, a representative ‘joint body’ of plantation workers decides. And over the years, they have come up with some surprising decisions. Two examples show the breadth of usage – and their implications:Fifty-two year old S. V.

Babies and toddlers will soon have the chance to grow up using Fairly Traded rubber products from the word ‘go’ : By autumn this year we expect that baby teats and baby bottle tops, and possibly also teething aids, will become available courtesy a new member of the Fair Rubber Association.

The Fair Rubber Association is sometimes asked, why the share of Fairly Traded rubber is so small. There are a number of key reasons. One is, that natural rub-ber can, to some extent, be substituted for by synthetic rubber (which is made from petroleum). And if petroleum is cheap – as it is nowadays, why

It is somewhat unusual for the Fair Rubber Association to get a call from the Financial Times (FT). What was even more unusual was the question: What happens to rubber farmers and tappers when tyre companies and other rubber processing factories shut down? The answer is clear: They lose all income. No buyer, no sale,