Sheep farmers are receiving less for an entire lamb than Marks & Spencer in Liffey Valley, Dublin, charge the consumer for 2 kg of rack of lamb, the Irish Farmers' Association claimed last night.
It published a survey of supermarket lamb prices and alleged that consumers and farmers were being "fleeced" by the supermarket groups, which were pocketing a margin of up to 100 per cent in retail over wholesale prices on lamb meat sales.
"There is an excessive mark-up on lamb sales on a widespread scale and this is very disturbing," said Mr Laurence Fallon, chairman of the IFA's national sheep committee.
Mr Fallon said farmers were receiving between €3.30 and €3.40 a kg for lamb from the meat factories. The factories process and prepare the lamb for sale to supermarkets and the typical wholesale prices charged by the factories to supermarkets were €4.30 a kg for lamb leg, €3 a kg for shoulder, and €7.40 a kg for loin chops.
According to the IFA's random survey, supermarkets were charging consumers double the wholesale prices of €8-€10 a kg for lamb leg; €5-€7.50 a kg for shoulder and €14-€18 a kg for loin chops.
Mr Fallon said this was an extraordinarily high mark-up and, even taking into account trimming and waste, was totally unjustified. "These retail prices must be contrasted with the fact that the prices paid to farmers have fallen by over 30 per cent or €1.50 a kg since Easter."
Mr Fallon alleged that the high prices were damaging lamb consumption. Supermarkets could well afford to sell the meat at retail prices of at least 30 per cent lower which still allowed for a good profit margin. He said Marks & Spencer in Liffey Valley was charging "an astonishing" €38.08 a kg for rack of lamb. "To put this price in perspective, 2 kg of lamb rack sold in that shop costing €76 is more than the total price the farmer receives for an entire lamb of 20 kg when he sells it," he said.
The survey, carried out on July 22nd and 23rd in 13 supermarkets in Dublin, the midlands and the west, found that loin chops were dearest in M&S Liffey Valley at €21.14 a kg and were cheapest in Dunnes Stores at €14.99 a kg. Super Valu, Castlebar, charged consumers most for gigot chops, €11.16 a kg and Dunnes Stores were cheapest at €7.99.
Marks & Spencer said yesterday it worked only with a few selected farmers who operated to high standards of animal welfare.
"Due to our insistence on using the youngest possible cuts from lambs to deliver the best possible freshness and taste, we cannot offer the cheapest prices on the high street.
"However we believe for all these reasons our lamb represents value," it said.