Is Fairtrade all that fair?

I've been thinking about Fairtrade quite a bit recently and I'm not sure it is all that fair really. I've tried to buy Fairtrade tea and fruit where possible but haven't really gone out of my way. Anyway, after some thought and reading around I've decided to no longer buy Fairtrade, here are my reasons.

• Whilst Fairtrade pays people involved in the supply chain above average wages this isn't necessarily a good thing in the long term. There are still plenty of other people being paid the standard rate, and paying people differentially for the same work is never a good long term solution. Imagine if suddenly some farmers in this country got paid £1m a year and the consequences of that. Also, increased wages drives up costs overall in the area, meaning food, clothing, etc. will rise in price, and the people still being paid a standard wage will suffer. What is needed is for a uniform increase in wages and more of an effort to improve living conditions.
• Artificially fixing prices leads to lack of economic signals to an economy. Usually if the price of something drops then this is a signal to move on to producing something else, without these price signals the whole economy gets confused and as a consequence actually ends up being worse off. Artificially increasing the price people get paid encourages people to start making tea, or coffee, which ends up being over supplied. The non-Fairtrade farmers then end up being even worse off as their produce isn't in demand and their wages aren't fixed.
  
• Fairtrade goods are sold at a higher price (in general) than non-Fairtrade items. Although it seems like this gets passed on down the supply chain in reality only around 10% of the extra you pay goes to the people who "need" it. The extra commission is swallowed up by the supermarkets, importers and transport companies.
• The supermarkets clearly use people who buy Fairtrade and organic produce as an identifier for people who are likely to make emotive purchases without considering the price, or price insensitive customers.
  
• 90% of Fairtrade's profit goes straight back into promoting their own brand. You have to question just how ethical that really is.
  

Fairtrade is just a brand, in the same way Nike and Coca Cola are. It's simply a way to generate profit from middle classes by making them feel good about themselves. Far greater good would be achieved in other ways, but they aren't as easy to profit from or don't make people feel good about themselves like boasting about having Fairtrade tea in their cupboard does.

Artificially inflating the price people get paid is not good for an economy. Whilst I don't dispute that help given to Third World countries and people who are "poor" compared to us is a great thing, I believe it needs to be done very carefully to ensure we aren't actually causing more harm than good.

The article on the Fair trade debate at Wikipedia makes some good points.