Food retailers have welcomed conclusions of government-commissioned research that they say proves the price farmers are paid for their produce reflects the price the customer pays - destroying the myth that supermarkets hold farmers in an armlock.
The research, commissioned by Defra and carried out by London Economics was designed to investigate the farm share of final retail food prices.
Kevin Hawkins, BRC director general, said: “The London Economics report proves what we have always known, that falls in farm-gate price are passed on to consumers at retail level just as quickly as increases in farm prices.
"The report also shows that there is no significant relationship between the strength of the UK supermarket sector in UK food retailing and the difference between prices paid to farmers and the price the consumer pays.
“It is time for those who constantly criticise food retailers’ relationships with farmers to admit that their attacks are based on nothing more than myth and prejudice. This independent research provides the hard evidence that explodes the myth once and for all that supermarkets do not have farmers in an ‘armlock’.”
Food retailers share Defra’s view that the research is ‘a thorough and technically rigorous analysis of the available data and a valuable contribution to our understanding of the issues.’ "It shows quite clearly that competition within the modern British food economy directly benefits consumers, and that that competition takes place at each and every level in the food chain," said Hawkins.
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