Some 56 per cent of freshinfo pollsters this week said that if they were an overseas supplier, they would not be looking to send product to the UK market.
Just 37 per cent of the industry insiders who responded said they would be looking to supply the UK.
One pollster wrote: “I would only be looking to supply the UK market in an opportunistic way... when the market is good and I have other possibilities I would not tend to favour the English option, due to the lack of business logic and inconsistent sales returns.”
Many respondents laid the blame firmly at the door of importers, accusing them of “unrealistic programmes”. One international pollster said: “The UK market is still a very good market to supply on fruit. But the main problem are the importers in England, who over-order produce and then destroy the market with stupid prices because they cannot sell it.”
Importers were urged to “sharpen their pencils and get their acts together”.
“There are a lot of people out there who have been earning far too much for too long,” wrote another respondent. “It is time to stop the continuous knocking of the multiple buyers and look closer to home for the reasons behind why overseas growers often do not want to supply the UK market... The Dutch put us to shame.”
Consultant pollster Brian McGillivray urged the industry to “think outside the box”. “Supermarket retailing has been an evolving environment and now needs to re-look at how they can achieve least cost inputs to satisfy both their suppliers and maintain customer loyalty,” he wrote.
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