Trade model that removes intermediate aggregators between producer and end-buyer; the producer's identity is preserved end-to-end.
A sourcing arrangement where the importer buys from a specific named producer (or cooperative) rather than from a category-level aggregator. The producer is named on the invoice, the menu, the marketing — and the price relationship is transparent in both directions.
Fair Trade is a certification mark (Fairtrade International, Fair Trade USA) with a defined floor price + premium structure. Direct trade is a relationship model — there is no certifying body, and pricing is negotiated per relationship. Some direct-trade producers are also Fairtrade certified; many are not.
Every consignment ships with artefact #2: the cooperative's legal ID + member count, verifiable at the relevant national registry. Pricing is a band (min/mid/max) per corridor, published; settlement to the coop is SWIFT EUR within 72 hours of QC pass. The coop receives ~88% of the buyer's invoice value in a typical trade vs ~45% in the conventional regional-trader chain.
It scales by adding corridors, not by adding intermediaries. Each new corridor takes 6–12 weeks of onboarding (legal vetting, sample shipments, signing-key issuance) and is sustainable from the third pilot consignment onwards.