The organisation said that retail sales of Fairtrade certified products increased by 12% worldwide between 2010 and 2011.
Australian consumer support of Fairtrade Certified products continues to grow with sales rising almost 40% in 2011 on products such as coffee, chocolate, tea and cotton - more than triple the global increase amount of 12% for the same period. Total estimated retail sales of Fairtrade certified products in Australia reached just over AU$165 million.
Global sales of Fairtrade products came in at AU$6.75 billion in 2011.
"Choosing Fairtrade is the norm for millions of people around the world. It's becoming a bigger and bigger part of our regular weekly shopping and Aussie consumers are continuing to increase their spend substantially," said Stephen Knapp, Fairtrade Australia & New Zealand (Fairtrade ANZ) CEO.
In addition to established markets, Fairtrade International said sales in new countries were "skyrocketing".
Products carrying the FAIRTRADE Mark are now available to people in more than 120 countries worldwide and growth of Fairtrade sales in new countries is skyrocketing. For example in South Africa, where shoppers can buy Fairtrade products grown by farmers and workers in their own country, spending was over three times more on Fairtrade Certified products in 2011 than in 2010.
Strong Fairtrade sales are great news for the more than 1.2 million farmers and workers at 991 Fairtrade certified producer organisations in 66 countries. In addition to the income earned from sales of Fairtrade Certified products, farmers and workers earned an extra AU$87.7 million (â'¬65m) in Fairtrade Premium. Decisions on how to spend the Premium are made democratically by the producer organisations. In 2011 this included farm improvements and processing equipment, education and career training, community projects and healthcare.
Sales grew steadily across all of the leading Fairtrade products, with coffee by 12%, cocoa by 14%, bananas 9%, sugar 9%, tea 8%, and flowers by 11%.
"The strong Fairtrade sales mean big wins for the farmers and workers trying to make a decent living," explains Joseph Ayebazibwe, from Mabale Growers Tea Factory in Uganda.
"Thanks to support from consumers around the world we were able to invest in many business and community projects.
"And Fairtrade doesn't only help improve the living standards of producers; the impact also extends to the wider community.
"Fairtrade consumers are supporting sustainable development across our beautiful continent."