Supermarkets will jeopardise the long-term sustainability of the Welsh red meat industry unless they source more local red meat and change their import policy, forecast Hybu Cig Cymru chairman, Rees Roberts.

Speaking at the HCC annual conference last week, he said: "It's time for multiple retailers to demonstrate an increasing commitment to Welsh producers by working positively to improve farmgate prices, by immediately cutting out unnecessary imports and by buying and selling more local food.

"I want to see an immediate change in farmgate prices. Retail prices and sales of Welsh red meat are holding up, yet the amount that farmers receive of the retail price continues to fall. In 1995, farmers in Wales received 56% of the retail price per kilogram.

"This year, when we have had to sit and suffer the severe damage that has been done to our industry by the foot-and-mouth outbreak in England, it has fallen to 42%."

Members of the European Parliament had noted that farm gate prices had failed to keep up with retail prices, and had expressed concern that European meat and meat-product prices could rise by up to 30% in 2008 because of increased feed costs.

Also, imports had increased at key times of the year when a plentiful supply of fresh Welsh lamb was freely available. By importing at these times supermarkets were depressing Welsh lamb prices, and racking up unnecessary food miles and CO₂ emissions in the process."

It was wrong that retailers automatically reached out for imports at the expense of local lamb because the calendar had reached a certain date, he said. That may be how it had always been done in the past but, in supermarket parlance, the concept was well past its sell-by date.

"Multiple retailers who import lamb great distances are flying in the face of consumer opinion. In recent years there has been a seismic shift in how consumers view the production of food, the retailing of food and the environment in which food is produced.

"More and more of today's shoppers want the reassurance of local food and the assurance of quality they want fresher, local products with provenance that haven't had to travel great distances," said Mr. Roberts.