Administrators for collapsed fairtrade pioneer Traidcraft are seeking a buyer for the company's assets, including its Team Valley premises.

Begbies Traynor was appointed to the loss-making Gateshead firm, which had struggled to recover from the pandemic as it faced a number of cost pressures and the impact of strikes. All 40 of the firm's staff are now confirmed to have lost their jobs in a move that Traidcraft directors described as "heartbreaking".

Now, administrators managing the closure of the company - which is owned by nearly 5,000 shareholders - say its 100,000 sqft warehouse on Kingsway North, Team Valley, is available to potential buyers. As recently as last year the building was being used provide third-party companies with storage and fulfilment facilities and Traidcraft's pension fund trustees acquired a second charge over the property, meaning they would receive any proceeds from a sale after lenders HSBC.

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A wide range of stock is also being marketed by agents Eddisons. Traidcraft had offered huge range of ethical and fairtrade products through a network of activist sellers known as fair traders, who often operated in places such as churches and schools, as well as via retailers and wholesalers.

In recent years the firm - a pioneer of the fair trade concept - faced marked competition from mainstream retailers. In its latest set of accounts, which show operating losses of £255,614, Traidcraft said that while overall sales of fair trade-labelled goods had continued to grow, the market was still primarily driven by the "colonial dry goods" such as coffee and chocolate.

The company had stopped trading in foreign currency, only buying products from º£½ÇÊÓƵ-based suppliers. The accounts to the end of March 2022 showed Traidcraft said it had been using overdraft facilities and the financial support of a shareholder to make stock purchases ahead of its peak autumn and winter selling seasons. Begbies Traynor said the firm had been unable to repay working capital borrowed ahead of the Christmas selling season.

Andrew Little, joint administrator and partner at Begbies Traynor in Newcastle, said: "Traidcraft really was one of the founders of the world fair trade movement and it’s sad to see its demise although there’s no doubt that over the last 40 years, it has helped drive consumer demand for ethically-sourced products. We are currently working closely with Eddisons to market the business in order to provide the best return for creditors and we have already received interest from potential purchasers."

In a statement announcing the administration, Traidcraft paid tribute to it's "heroic" staff and acknowledged it had been a major force for good in the ethical retail sector since the 1980s.

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