Multiples in the Irish Republic have been accused of ripping off growers and consumers with huge mark-ups on fresh produce.
A survey by the main Irish opposition party, Fine Gael, shows that the three big chains - Tesco, Dunnes Stores and Superquinn - are making profits of over 200 per cent on some of the produce they buy from growers. On cabbage, for instance, the grower is paid 40 euro cents per head, while the price Dunnes charge the consumer is €1.49, representing a profit of 272 per cent. In the case of Tesco and Superquinn, the margin is 247 per cent and 222 per cent respectively.
On lettuce, the story is the same - the grower gets 20 euro cents per head, while Superquinn charges 69 cents, a mark-up of 245 per cent, with Tesco and Dunnes each taking a 195 per cent profit. Another big earner for the multiples is cauliflower. According to the survey, the price paid to the grower is 45 cents, while all three multiples charge the customer €1.49, a profit of 231 per cent.
With carrots, Superquinn’s retail price of €1.69 per kg represents a 201 per cent margin on the 56 cents paid to the grower, with Tesco and Dunnes making a profit of 182% and 105 per cent. On mushrooms, the profit for all three is 81 per cent, with a 50 per cent mark-up on potatoes.
Retail Ireland, representing the multiples, claimed the survey was “grossly misleading”, arguing that it took no account of the costs to the retailer in grading, processing, storage, packaging, marketing and distribution. But the Fine Gael spokesman on agriculture and food, Denis Naughten, responded that most of fresh produce listed did not involve such extra costs. “Retailers are continuing to make huge profits at the expense of both growers and consumers,” he said, “and growers deserve to know why they are not being given a fair price.”
The Irish Farmers’ Association, which represents growers, is now demanding the introduction of quarterly reporting on the profits being made at the various stages of the food chain, plus a radical overhaul of the national consumer agency. Its president, Padraig Walshe, calling for urgent government action on profit margins, said: “It is very frustrating for farmers to see their prices continuing to fall while consumers are being asked to pay more and more by the multiples.”
