Growers should unite to improve their bargaining power in an increasingly tight world market, Roger Manning, ceo of Inter-Trade International told PMA’s Fresh Summit in Atlanta this week.
He said: “While we must continue to support the retailers, the time has come for growers to come together and say ‘no more’.
“Many are selling for a loss, or at least making very little in the way of returns, and contrary to what the retailers might say, low prices are not all for the benefit of the consumer, but mostly about the margins of the retailer.
“Growers are being bled by costs [and] must strengthen the production side of the industry rather than continuing to be divided and ruled.”
Securing new routes to market would mean a lessening of the burden on growers in many countries, he added, but the dominance of the retailers in most of the world’s major markets has led to a worrying inertia among suppliers.
“There is a huge amount of pressure on international growers and shippers and until now, our industry has been less ambitious than it should have been in searching for new opportunities for its products,” he told delegates. “Suppliers need to take off their comfortable shoes, put on some running shoes and actively look for other routes to market.
“Market forces are heavily in favour of the buyer, but while they ask for added value, how much more value can actually be added to fresh produce?” Manning asked.
“We haven’t changed what we are doing and have therefore been forced into commodity supply. Six categories account for around 75 per cent of global fresh produce distribution and there is little growth in any of them.
“Don’t simply think supermarkets,” he advised growers, “that may be a programmed part of the business you can rely on to take volume, but with oversupply affecting most categories, we need to be spending much more time finding homes for our fruit, and not just concentrating on growing more of it.”
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