No release for farmers from supermarket arm-lock13 March 2001
Friends of the Earth obtained a draft of the Code of Practice for supermarkets which was prepared in response to recommendations in a Competition Commission report last year. It shows that moves to protect small suppliers and consumers from the damaging practices of large retailers have been significantly watered down, and offer little, if any, protection to farmers.
On 1 March Tony Blair told farmers that "the supermarkets have pretty much got an arm-lock on you people at the moment", promising that it was "something we have got to sit down with them and work out". FOE has called on the PM to ensure that this Code of Practice is scrapped and replaced.
The Competition Commission report concluded that the power exerted by major retailers enabled them to carry out practices against the public interest. It called for a Code of Practice to address these concerns. The report found evidence that the biggest supermarkets [Asda, Safeway, Sainsbury, Somerfield and Tesco] "adversely affect the competitiveness of some of their suppliers with the result that the suppliers are likely to invest less and spend less on new product development and innovation, leading to lower quality and less consumer choice".
The Competition Commission report listed specific measures which should be included in a Code of Practice which it stressed must be binding on the larger supermarkets. Yet FOE obtained the draft Code and was appalled. Adrian Bebb, Food Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said: "This weasel-worded Code of Practice will not release farmers from the power of the supermarkets. It will simply give legitimacy to big retailers to carry on with business as usual. If this happens many small suppliers will to go to the wall. The new Code of Practice has to have teeth, with an independent arbiter to deal with any disputes."
"The Government must look at long-term solutions to the problems faced by British farmers. If Mr Blair really wants to break the arm-lock of the supermarkets he must ensure that more of our food is produced and sold locally. Allowing our food supply to become more concentrated in the hands of a few big players is bad news for consumers and the environment."
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