More than half - 52 per cent - of the UK’s supermarket suppliers are unfamiliar with the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) Supermarket Code of Practice - and over three quarters of those that are do not believe it offers any protection from the increasing power of supermarkets.
The survey of company directors in the food supply chain, conducted by Grant Thornton, offers a damning report of the Supermarket Code of Practice.
Some 52 per cent of respondents believe the code is not enforceable because it does not encourage suppliers to raise a formal complaint against supermarkets for fear of losing their supply contract. Some 19 per cent believe the code is too vague and loosely worded, while a further 19 per cent believe it makes no provision for minimum required contract terms.
The results spell bad news for the OFT, which introduced the voluntary code in 2002 to redress the balance of power between supermarkets and their suppliers and to ensure fair trading practices.
More to follow in next week’s FPJ.
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