Retail sales of the ethical Fairtrade label in Britain soared by 81 per cent last year with bananas the top selling item.

The Fairtrade Foundation said estimated retail sales reached £493 million last year, up from £273 million in 2006.

The foundation provides a consumer label which tries to give a better deal to disadvantaged farmers in the developing world.

Sales of the top selling product, bananas, topped £150 million, an increase of 130 per cent. Fairtrade now account for 25 per cent of the bananas sold in Britain. Fairtrade sales of coffee in Britain, which had been the top selling product in 2006, rose 24 per cent to £117 million.

"The fantastic increase in sales of Fairtrade goods in 2007 shows the UK's public's huge and growing appetite for Fairtrade," Harriet Lamb, executive director of the Fairtrade Foundation, said in a statement.

"But the pace of change must quicken. The scale and level of poverty worldwide demands that we all urgently play our part to scale up Fairtrade," she added. Fairtrade products, which include chocolate, sugar, and a wide range of fruit, are sold in more than 20 countries. The products are bought from farmers in more than 50 countries.

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