Fair-trade outlet opened in Sanur

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 06/01/2006 1:51 PM  |  Life

Ananta Wijaya, Contributor, Sanur

To gain wider domestic support and recognition, the Indonesian Forum for Fair-Trade (FFTI), a coalition of 19 fair-trade NGOs and other organizations from all over the country, opened last week Indonesia's first fair-trade outlet in the resort area of Sanur.

Located in Hotel Santai, the outlet showcases handicraft products produced by small-scale home industries in partnership with FFTI's members.

""It is our strategy to open new domestic markets for the products as well as promoting the Indonesian fair-trade movement,"" FFTI's secretary general Gung Alit said.

He said that until recently, most of the country's fair-trade products were absorbed by foreign markets in Europe and United States.

""The domestic market is very small because not many people are aware of its existence, let alone of the missions of the fair-trade movement,"" he said of the FFTI.

He expected the opening of the outlet to raise the Indonesian people's awareness of the movement. The forum plans to establish similar outlets in other cities in the near future.

The fair-trade movement aims at creating a healthier, fairer and mutually beneficial working relationship between generally poor small-scale enterprises with their respective markets, which are comprised of brokers, middle-men and buyers.

The NGOs assist the workers and producers in various stages of production, from designing and manufacturing to opening new markets and finding new financial sources.

""One of their primary problems is working capital. That's why, once a deal is made, we in Mitra Bali always pay our partners in advance, up to 50 percent of the transactions' total value,"" Gung Alit said.

""By doing so, our partners will always have sufficient working capital to complete the deal,"" he said.

Mitra Bali is currently the largest fair-trade organization in Bali.

The movement was started in the 1940s and earned worldwide recognition in the 1970s.

Indonesian NGOs began experimenting with the fair-trade idea in 1980s. Presently, the country has over 20 business entities that base their operations on fair-trade principles. Most of these organizations are based in Bali or Yogyakarta.

The rest are scattered through Jakarta, Bogor, Malang, Solo, Bandung, Lombok, Buton, East Nusa Tenggara and Kalimantan.

""A majority of FFTI members, 52.63 percent to be precise, are from the handicraft industry,"" Veronika Ratri of FIDES, a Solo-based fair-trade NGO, said.

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