8 February 2008

2 minute read

Europe

Padraig Walshe’s call came as the Association placed further advertisements in tomorrow’s newspapers again “naming and shaming” aggressive discounting, this time by Dunnes Stores.

“The central message in our campaign is: ‘Farmers can’t produce two for the price of one’. The kind of food discounting by supermarkets we have highlighted is putting the livelihoods of thousands of Irish farmers at risk – particularly pigmeat, beef and lamb producers, and potato and vegetable growers.”

“The truth of food discounting campaigns is that when supermarkets keep their margins, discounts come straight out of the farmer’s pocket. That is why I launched this campaign for honesty in food pricing at last week’s IFA AGM.

The IFA President said “the undeniable facts are that all of Ireland’s remaining 450 pig producers are losing money, ranging from €25 to €30 per pig, and at the same time supermarkets are discounting Irish pork by up to 50%. Ultimately Irish consumers will be the losers.

Padraig Walshe stressed that the farmer’s share of the retail price of beef and lamb had been cut from 40% to 30% over the past decade.

“For all their endless advertising campaigns and price wars, the facts show the supermarkets continue to increase their margins at farmers’ expense. Farm product prices are up by only 14% since 1990, while supermarket food prices are up by a staggering 42%.”

“The supermarkets have a stranglehold on producers and co-ops, whose weakness is epitomised by their fear of being delisted should they have the temerity to seek a price increase.”

“I am saying to supermarkets: whatever a farmer produces, there is a basic unit cost that must be recovered from the marketplace,” Padraig Walshe concluded.

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