The power of the retailers and the UK’s competitive world ranking have been deemed the biggest threats facing UK growers, an exclusive new survey has shown.
Commissioned by the British Growers Association (BGA), interviews with 139 UK fruit and vegetable suppliers were combined to create a comprehensive report on current issues affecting the sector.
Almost 20 per cent of those asked believed the world-competitive position of UK growers is the biggest threat facing the industry, followed by 15 per cent who cited the power of the retailers, and 13 per cent who said input costs.
The news comes as last week’s (22 June) Groceries Code Adjucator conference highlighted suppliers’ increasing confidence in raising issues with retail relations. Although the number of suppliers reporting Groceries Code-related issues with the UK’s 10 largest supermarkets has fallen, almost half of suppliers would now consider raising issues – up nine per cent to 46 per cent.
“One area we need to be looking at from the grower’s perspective is training,” BGA chief executive Jack Ward said. “About 70 per cent of suppliers stated that they had no training in the use of the code. This seems an obvious starting point for growers in terms of making the code more effective.”
Other key findings from the report, seen exclusively by FPJ, show that 35 per cent of growers believe other UK farmers and growers are their biggest competition, followed by 19 per cent who said European farmers, and 15 per cent stating overseas farmers. Input costs and competitive pricing were cited as most likely to prevent a business from being competitive.
The report used open-ended questions leading to varied responses, and Ward said this has given him “confidence” that he has an across-the-board view of the sector.
He added that growers clearly recognise that the power of the retailers is a big issue. “Although our research detected that growers didn’t necessarily see any great change with the advent of the GCA, it was encouraging to hear that progress is being made,” Ward said
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