Fair Christmas

The Dümmen Group, Rheinberg, is the first young plant producer worldwide to receive Fairtrade Standards certification. The certification is for the production of poinsettias under the brand name Red Fox. In the future, this German/Dutch company will supply international potted plant producers with the young plants raised under fair trade conditions.
In order to be able to use the Fairtrade label, companies have to fulfill very strict requirements. The certification takes place at producer level both in the south and in the north. In the case of Red Fox’s poinsettias, the first step is the certification of the mother plant production process in Ethiopia by an independent organisation. After that, every operation in the north involved in the sales chain, is certified. These include the production locations of the Dümmen Group in Rheinberg, where the cuttings are rooted and also the garden centres that raise the young plants to finally become poinsettias for the Christmas market.
“We have been working with the directives for a sustainable value chain for a long time. This is shown by our certification from the MPS organisation – More Profitable Sustainability”, explained Sonja Dümmen, the marketing manager. “The cooperation with Fairtrade now offers us the possibility to communicate this to the outside world”.
However, the poinsettias are just the beginning. “We are planning to supply geraniums with the Fairtrade mark from our operation in Ethiopia next year”, Sonja Dümmen announced.
Apart from the German-speaking market, Dümmen has also got other European countries in its sights with planned expansion into Great Britain, Sweden and Italy.

Fairtrade offers the horticultural sector the opportunity to combine three aims: Ensuring fundamental social rights, reduced use of pesticides (according to EU directives) and controlled water management. Furthermore, the employees profit directly from the certification. The Fairtrade Standards stipulate that a Fairtrade premium of 10 percent be added to the purchase price. This amount then goes directly to the workers in Ethiopia, who decide independently and democratically how the money should be used.
Dümmen delivers approximately 50 mio cuttings annually and thereby has a market share of 50 per cent in Europe…