Fairtrade has said that it has recorded a rise of 14 per cent in sales of Fairtrade products in the UK market to the level of 1.78 billion.

The Fairtrade Foundation said before the fortnight of events to promote the products and benefits of buying the fair products. Fairtrade Fortnight has launched a campaign to highlight the low cost of bananas in UK supermarkets. It said that the banana price war might force farmers in developing countries to go out of business.

Michael Gidney, chief executive of the Fairtrade Foundation, said, "It's 20 years since the very first fairtrade products appeared in the UK, and the appetite for fairtrade is still growing despite challenging economic conditions. The UK is truly a world leader for fairtrade and we're proud of that."

Fairtrade said that the sale of Chocolate, cocoa and bananas grew 52per cent, 5per cent and 4 per cent, respectively. It also said that the sales of coffee and tea continued to rise in the UK. The data also showed that the sales of fairtrade sugar rose by 25 per cent in the previous year. Fresh vegetables recorded an increase of 316 per cent over 2013 and Wine sales grew by 15% for the second consecutive year.