Sugar multinational Tate and Lyle has announced that many of its consumer products will soon be fair trade. British Fairtrade regulator Fairtrade Foundation could barely contain their glee when reporting that this would mean £2 million extra for sugar farmers. The Foundation takes a percentage of each sale, so this would also be good for them.

Tate and Lyle are one of the original greedy multinationals, with massive profits being made in the aftermath of the transatlantic slave trade. Buying cheap cane sugar was essential for a business which sought to compete with European sugar beet. In the process Tate became a wealthy magnate and benefactor to the arts. Despite being free, plantation workers toiled in disgusting conditions in order to produce wealth in Europe.

Today, the situation is not much better. Although sugar is produced in Europe with massive subsidies, large amounts of sugar cane are produced in very poor conditions. If fairtrade can assist these people it should be welcomed, but ultimately poor plantation workers need more than slightly higher prices. Producing sugar for export to Europe is never going to give them the life that they deserve.

In this video, part of a documentary about Coca-Cola, the comedian Mark Thomas uncovers some pretty sickly truths about the sugar plantations.