As has been revealed by official figures shared, the explosive growth recorded by Fairtrade over the years managed to slow across UK during the past year, as shoppers thought before buying expensive ethical items in wake of the global recession.

As has been confirmed by the Fairtrade Foundation, overall, sales of the group hiked by 12% to about 799 Million Pounds, with tea and coffee faring well, but cotton falling.

The low rise in sales figures has come after a high recorded growth of 71% for the year 2007 and 45% in 2008.

During the past year, various companies announced that they would be moving some lines to exclusively Fairtrade lines, with Starbucks moving all its espresso-based coffees to Fairtrade and Cadbury converting its highest selling and most popular Dairy Milk range.

"We have had really dramatic increases [in past years] and people said that we could not continue forever and given the economic climate we are very proud we have achieved double-digit growth", said Barbara Crowther, communications director of the Fairtrade Foundation.