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.

British sales of fair trade products jumped 12 per cent to 800 million pounds during 2009, the Fairtrade Foundation said.

The organization said that the jump in the fair trade sales depicted that consumers had remained "staunchly loyal" previous year. It further added that conditions for producers in developing countries were "desperate" due to global economic slump.