Fairtrade International has reported that consumers spent €4.9bn on Fairtrade-certified products in 2011, marking sales growth of 12 per cent on the previous year, with global sales of Fairtrade bananas increasing nine per cent.

The UK is Fairtrade's biggest market and saw a 12 per cent jump in sales value, but newer markets surged most impressively, with South Africa selling three times as much as in 2010 and South Korea posting sales of €17m in its first year with a national Fairtrade organisation.

In countries that are still without a national organisation, sales almost doubled to €75m.

Among the notable increases in more developed markets, 55 per cent of bananas sold in Switzerland were Fairtrade-certified.

Around the world, products bearing the Fairtrade mark are now sold in more than 120 countries.

Tuulia Syvaenen, executive operations officer at Fairtrade International, said: 'Fairtrade is the norm for millions of people. It is a part of the regular weekly shopping. And now sales of Fairtrade-certified products are taking off in new countries, as entirely new groups of people discover Fairtrade for the first time.'

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