Sales of fairtrade food will reach $850m in 2014, according to the latest consumer research published by Datamonitor.

As part of Fairtrade Fortnight, which began yesterday, the group revealed some interesting facts about the fairtrade market.

The UK is the largest market for fairtrade food and drink in Europe and 47 per cent of UK consumers think that it is important to choose a grocery product that supports fairtrade.

Fairtrade food and drinks are regularly bought by 14 per cent of people, while nearly half buy them occasionally.

Similarly, 14 per cent of people believe that Fairtrade has a high influence on their food and drink shopping decisions.

Mike Hughes, analyst at Datamonitor, said: "UK consumers are buying into the ethical marketing message of Fairtrade products as well as the additional authenticity and provenance cues brought about by learning more about origins and production.

"However, while the market will continue to grow, consumers show a reluctance to pay more for products given an ethical positioning unless there is also some immediate enjoyment-led feature to be had. This means that in order to target a wider consumer base, more emphasis has to be placed on elements such as great taste and freshness of products. The key challenge for manufacturers is that any wider marketing does not subtract from the ethical message around tackling global poverty that the certification passionately focuses on."