Fine Gael's Creed says Tescos raking it in with food prices, farmers getting bad deal

Where's all the money going? To the great Tesco International Superchain or what? and should farmers be trying to get more buck for their work? and how do they do that? Charge the multiples more by ganging up together? Do farmers markets not pay enough here as that would seem to be the solution - sell directly to the customer and cut out the middleman?

Quote :

Up to 250% mark-up on basic foodstuffs show consumers and farmers being ripped off - Creed


Shoppers pay €33.77 for basket of basic foodstuffs while farmer receives just €14.55

Irish consumers are paying high food prices, but farmers are not getting the benefit, according to a survey released today (Friday) by Fine Gael's Spokesperson for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Michael Creed TD.

"The latest Fine Gael survey (see table below) of a shopping basket of beef, milk, eggs and a range of vegetables shows that the farmer gets €14.55 while the public are paying €33.77 on average, for the same basket in the supermarkets, an average mark-up of 133%.

"The highest mark-up is on mushrooms which retail at an average of €4.71 per kilo while the farmer gets just €1.35, a mark-up of 249% from the farm gate to supermarket shelf. A kilo of beef is marked up by 220%. A dozen of eggs is costing the public €3.88, a mark-up of almost 104% on the farmer's price of €1.90.

"This basket of food mainly includes products which require little or no processing, yet between the farmer and the shopper, the products are being marked up by almost 135% on average. The July survey shows Tesco claiming the highest overall mark-up of 147% on the whole basket of goods. The retailer with the next highest overall mark-up was Superquinn, at 126%, followed by Dunnes at 122%.

Product Farmer's Price Tesco Dunnes Superquinn Average Price % Average Mark-up
Beef (1kg Round Roast) €3.39 €10.79 €10.79 €10.99 €10.86 220%
Milk (1 litre) €0.31 €0.87 €0.87 €0.83 €0.86 177%
Eggs (12 Large Free Range) €1.90 €3.93 €3.76 €3.95 €3.88 104%
Cabbage €0.60 €0.99 €1.49 €1.49 €1.32 120%
Carrots (1kg) €0.75 €1.58 €1.59 €1.59 €1.59 112%
Cauliflower €0.80 €1.49 €1.49 €1.49 €1.49 86%
Mushrooms (1kg) €1.35 €4.48 €4.75 €4.89 €4.71 249%
Lettuce €0.45 €0.69 €0.75 €0.75 €0.73 62%
Potatoes (10kg bag of roosters) €5.00 €11.10 €6.89 €6.99 €8.33 67%
TOTAL €14.55 €35.92 €32.38 €32.97 €33.77 133%

"Shoppers need to know why they are not getting a better deal and farmers deserve to know why they are not getting a fair price. Retailers, distributors and processors must come clean and explain how they can justify such mark-ups on basic food products. Fine Gael believes that a balance can be struck between the interests of farmers and shoppers, and the wider business community."

http://www.finegael.ie/news/index.cfm/type/details/nkey/35011/pkey/653/

Tesco don't publish figures for Ireland. They group them together with the UK for accountancy purposes so it is impossible to tell how much profit they make from their Irish shops. On purpose one would presume.

Similar situation, I believe, with Dunnes which I think might be a Private Unlimited Company. This means that whilst the shareholders do not benefit from limited liability, they don't have to file accounts publicly in the CRO. So you can't get at them either. I'm not 100% sure that is the case with Dunnes, but I have heard that it is.

There are alot of companies moving over to Unlimited registration at the moment. Naturally only companies that aren't worried they're going to go bust.

I reckon they should bring back the co-ops and run their own shops.

cactus flower wrote:

I reckon they should bring back the co-ops and run their own shops.

I can't understand why they aren't doing so.

The Co-operative movement is still fairly strong in the UK from the shops to funeral directors.

cactus flower wrote:

I reckon they should bring back the co-ops and run their own shops.

That seems like the answer doesn't it? If there is such a mark-up - 250% - then there must be room for competitive pricing and people simply enjoy farmer's markets too - especially if there was rumour of lower prices than Tesco. Are the farmers markets and co-ops prohibitively expensive to set up I wonder?

What's the going rate for a farmer these days?

cookiemonster wrote:

What's the going rate for a farmer these days?

Everyone to their own vice.

According to the Tescopoly website, the average floorspace of Tesco's Irish stores is 60% bigger than in the UK - surely not?

http://www.tescopoly.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=595&Itemid=193


Re the Co-Op, they have improved their image (and turnover I presume) a lot over here in recent years, with a major programme of store refurbishment and a move up-market. I think they are about to take over the Somerfields chain at the moment.

Atticus wrote:

According to the Tescopoly website, the average floorspace of Tesco's Irish stores is 60% bigger than in the UK - surely not?

http://www.tescopoly.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=595&Itemid=193


Re the Co-Op, they have improved their image (and turnover I presume) a lot over here in recent years, with a major programme of store refurbishment and a move up-market. I think they are about to take over the Somerfields chain at the moment.

Perhaps Tescos in Ireland are big because they are all quite new. I never go to these shops because it takes too long to walk around them.

Suppose it depends on what you consider a Tesco store. The Tesco metro thing has barely taken off in Ireland but there is gazillions of them in the UK.

Tesco Metro being a Tesco which is a bit like Spar or Centra. Interestingly Superquinn are starting on the same thing, they have opened one in Ranelagh and are just about to open one in Rathgar. Trying to destroy Donnybrook Fair (pah!) no doubt.

Atticus wrote:

According to the Tescopoly website, the average floorspace of Tesco's Irish stores is 60% bigger than in the UK - surely not?

http://www.tescopoly.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=595&Itemid=193

Greater oppertunity in Ireland for Tesco to build and redevelop their stores. When they took over the newer stores were in new developments (Think The Square in Tallaght) while the older stored were on large sites on the edges of towns (which them became commuter towns) so they had the ability and the options of razing the existing old stores and building new ones, plus they have the profit to justify it.

Fine Gael brought this up years ago, with milk especially, and started off the whole rip-off Ireland thing. I don't think all the furore that caused did much to prices but now it might be different. Bringing it up can't do any harm.