IFA wants profits made by food retailers regulated

The Government should appoint an examiner to regulate food retailers and ensure that any drop in farm-gate prices is passed on to consumers, according to the Irish Farmers Association (IFA). A study by the IFA's chief economist, Mr Con Lucey, found that average prices paid to farmers rose only 5 per cent since 1985 while food prices to consumers went up 33 per cent in the same period.

"So somebody is making a lot of money somewhere in between," the IFA president, Mr John Donnelly, said yesterday. "The perception is there that farmers and producers make a lot of money but only a third of the cost of a checkout bill goes to the primary producer."

The IFA is "very concerned at the developments taking place in the recent past in the retail sector," Mr Donnelly said. There was a small number of "very dominant supermarkets".

Mr Donnelly said that foreign supermarkets exerted pressure on their suppliers by importing food products. Marks and Spencer were the "worst offenders," he said. And the Government should monitor the impact of the Tesco takeover of Quinnsworth.

But the manager of Marks and Spencer on Grafton Street, Mr Mark Brown, said he was concerned about Mr Donnelly's comments.

The group is a worldwide retailer trading in over 40 countries, he said. "Specifically regarding the island of Ireland, we purchase a total of £300 million worth of products from 35 suppliers. £50 million of that is food, of which £20 million comes from eight current Irish suppliers that we use," said Mr Brown on RTE yesterday.

He said it was also important to remember that those Irish suppliers did not just supply the three Marks and Spencer stores in Ireland. "They produce to export to a wide variety across the chain."

IFA general secretary Mr Michael Berkery said that any examiner of the food industry should not have the power to make statutory price orders. "It would rely on the tenacity of the consumer to drive the prices rather than getting into statutory stuff."

The study found that farm prices for beef were the same as in 1985, but retail prices were up 15.5 per cent. Lamb prices to farmers had fallen 14 per cent while consumer prices rose by 34 per cent.

Farmers were being paid 3 per cent less for pigmeat than in 1985, but consumers were paying 39 per cent more. Dairy prices to consumers were up 62 per cent, but only 28 per cent to farmers.