The trade data we share on our blog is just a sample of the commercial information Datamyne provides its subscription customers.

Another way to sample the data is our free iPhone app which supports simple searches of the most recent US import shipments as documented in bills of lading. App users can search for a trade commodity — “coffee” for instance — and see the bill of lading details on the latest incoming shipments. Get the app at http://bit.ly/kkwVDC

If you want to do more extensive research of our US import data, you might try Datamyne On Demand, a low-cost, pay-as-you-go alternative to a full subscription.

With Datamyne On Demand you can search the latest three months of information on waterborne imports and preview the first 10 records returned for free. The charge to retrieve and download data is $79 for the first 50 records, and $.89 cents for each additional record from 51 up to 250. Access Datamyne On Demand on our home page, http://www.datamyne.com

Datamyne Blog editor

Thank you very much for covering the topic of Fair Trade. If possible, Fair Trade USA would like to correct a few points in the article:

1.) The article states that “Fair Trade USA and its international counterparts can sue companies that claim to be fair trade but are not selling products that have been certified.”

• The term “fair trade” is in the public domain and therefore cannot be owned or trademarked by any individual, company or organization. Neither Fair Trade USA nor FLO can/will sue companies for using these two words together. This is, in fact, one of the many reasons third-party certification exists, so that consumers can differentiate between a marketing claim and a product that has been certified against a rigorous set of social and environmental standards.

The best way for consumers to know that a product is in fact Fair Trade Certified is to look for the label. The Fair Trade Certified label ensures that the farmers and workers producing the labeled goods were paid fair prices and wages, work in safe conditions, protect the environment, and earn community development funds to empower and improve their communities.

Products that are not Fair Trade Certified (by Fair Trade USA) may not use our label.

2.) The article states that “The international organization works only with small farms.”

• While both FLO and Fair Trade USA focus a majority of their work on small farmers organized into cooperatives, both organizations also currently certify estates in categories like tea, flowers, rice and bananas. Fair Trade has generated a great deal of positive impact in these sectors. FLO does not, however, currently certify coffee estates. Fair Trade USA and FLO share a common mission of alleviating poverty through trade, yet we have differing perspectives on how to achieve this mission.

That is why Fair Trade USA is conducting a series of pilot programs to test the feasibility of extending Fair Trade benefits to far more farmers and workers around the world. We are taking international standards that already apply to farm workers in several categories, and applying them to workers in coffee. Through this more inclusive model, Fair Trade USA could potentially reach millions of additional farmers. Learn more at http://www.fairtradeforall.com

3.) The article also mentions the following: “Also at issue is Fair Trade USA’s decision to lower the threshold to products with just 10% certified ingredients, compared with the international group’s 20% minimum.”

• This 10 percent threshold refers to our old ingredients policy, which we revised in January 2012 after a several month-long stakeholder consultation period.

Under the revised policy, only products with 100 percent Fair Trade Certified content can use the full label. To use the differentiated Fair Trade Certified Ingredients label:

a) 100 percent of the ingredient commonly associated with a product must be Fair Trade Certified. For example, a chocolate bar must contain 100 percent Fair Trade Certified cocoa.

b) For any individual Fair Trade Certified ingredient used in the product, 100 percent of that ingredient must be certified. For example, if a product contains Fair Trade Certified vanilla extract, all of the vanilla extract in the product must be Fair Trade Certified.

c) The product must contain at least 20 percent Fair Trade Certified content in total, and all ingredients that can be Fair Trade Certified must be Fair Trade Certified, if the ingredient is commercially available.

In the case of single-ingredient products, like tea and coffee, Fair Trade USA will continue to require that 100 percent of the product be Fair Trade Certified. The policy also requires full web disclosure of all ingredients contained in a product.

Learn more about our Ingredients Policy here: http://www.fairtradeusa.org/press-room/press_release/fair-trade-usa-unveils-redesigned-certification-label-updates-multiple-ingr

Thanks so much for your time and interest in Fair Trade.