Dilmah Tea: Fairtrade?

A Letter to the Salvation Army from Dilmah

Date: 9th July 2008

Thank you for your e-mail of 18th June 2008. Dilmah is indeed much more than fair trade. Dilmah is the world’s only ethically produced tea, the fairest trade of all. Whilst fair trade has become another brand name, it has no direct link with tea producers and farmers. We work directly with tea farmers and as a family company we care for our consumers and share with our workers. You will see how we do so when you read this letter.

I enjoy the privilege of an ongoing dialogue with Dilmah drinkers around the world. You keep us in business and determine the success or failure of my mission to bring Quality, Authenticity and Ethics back to tea. I appreciate the role loyal Dilmah users play in the success of our family business and I thank you for the time and trouble you have taken to write.

When I launched Dilmah 20 years ago, I made a commitment to offer consumers the finest tea on earth. At the same time I pledged to fight for a better deal for our tea industry and its farmers - unwitting victims in an unfair global trading system. I based my vision on the moral principles I acquired during my childhood and lessons I learned from my parents as a youngster in a small village. Led by the priorities I acquired through my Christian faith these simple but important family values demand that in every aspect of my family business, we respect integrity, ethics and honesty. This is the foundation for the business ethics and social responsibility which became the guiding lights of all my family undertakings. They will remain so for generations. That is my promise.

The only profitable segments of the tea industry are packaging, branding and marketing. Sadly, they remain well and truly entrenched in the control of multinational traders - no different to the era of colonial occupation. They import our tea, package, brand and market, earning all the profits, leaving our farmers and the country poor. The colonial model of trade remains religiously protected by multinationals. It is a structure built to exploit producers for creating wealth in the hands of multinational traders. Dilmah is different. I do not believe that any business can prosper unless it is built on a sustainable model, that benefits workers, consumers, future generations of both, and the owners of that business.

Dilmah is the world's first family company to package tea at the source, brand and market worldwide, competing successfully with big multinational traders. Profits earned from Dilmah sales remain in our country, and we share them with our workers, the wider community and reinvest in making tea sustainable in a very transparent way.

We guarantee the unique freshness and flavour of Dilmah by packaging at the source, exclusively Single Origin 100% Pure Ceylon garden fresh, unblended tea. Fresh tea is brimming with antioxidants which enhance a healthy lifestyle. What’s more, Dilmah protects the authenticity of tea and its centuries’ old traditions in making tea. Dilmah is different in every respect and it tastes different! We are not traders. We are farmers taking our crop direct to the market without any role for traders or middlemen. Middlemen are multinational brand owners who exploit producers in buying their tea at very low prices, pack and add value offshore, and then sell their products with disproportionately high profits. Supermarkets and distributors are our partners, the channel through which we reach our customers.

Dilmah is just 20 years young - an infant in the company of ancient multinational brands from the colonial era - two or three hundred years of market domination. Dilmah is capturing the hearts of tea lovers and others who show genuine interest in making this a better world for the poor. The unique freshness and quality of our tea and the family philosophy behind Dilmah are driving sales beyond our expectations! I attribute this success to growing consumer awareness of the need to reduce poverty, created by big traders, and the positive manner in which the Dilmah family is showing the world how it can be achieved, if there is a will to do so!

We are equally committed to conservation. We invest meaningfully in appropriate projects for protection of the environment. Please visit www.mjffoundation.org and www.dilmahconservation.org where you will learn how my family ensures that my pledge to make mine a sustainable business, is fulfilled. The work of my MJF Charitable Foundation and Dilmah Conservation are not commercially motivated and I do not want to refer to them even as CSR since these are the obligations of every business. They are founded in the concept of making business a matter of human service.

Tea is an amazing beverage, one that is so rich in its wonderful heritage of 5,000 years. I devoted my life to tea because I believe that tea is the solution to so many of the problems our world faces today. Tea brings people together, it is known as the healing herb, and it is said to protect us from all chronic diseases whilst science discovers more health benefits each day, from good, fresh tea. Adding enjoyment and satisfaction to health and friendship, makes tea the perfect beverage for our 21st Century lifestyle. I do not regret a day that I spent in understanding this wonderful herb and in sharing its secrets with tea lovers around the world. I am now joined by my sons and their children in my mission and I thank you for the support you extend to us in bringing quality tea, ethically and with integrity, to tea drinkers around the world.

I thank you for enjoying Dilmah tea and helping us to bring hope and comfort to the poor.

With kind regards,

Yours sincerely,

Merrill J Fernando

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A thought from my week... my uncle died this week, he was a great guy, talented at woodwork and other crafty things. He also struggled big time in life with a few things. It seems this stemed from two pivitol life changing moments- his mother and his brothers deaths... This was a huge change/loss and trasition for him at the age of 14. ANd it seems he never recovered. that change/loss and trasition was too great for him to carry, and he never seemed to let it go all through out his life. He struggled with addiction adn instability, untill last week he was found undera bridge lifeless. He recieved much assistance from agencies, but i wonder why he couldnt shake his troubles to lead a fuller, healthier life. May we be family, even with those who arent ours by blood, and assist each other through transition times, may we give generously, and love even when it hurts. Even though personal choice is personal choice- i think its a two winged plane- personal choice and the collective care/sharing in decison making. We need each other. Its dynamic, its a process, its about me AND you.