Welsh farmers told ‘be more competitive’ for retail space

Farmers must become more competitive to secure space on supermarket shelves, the Farmers’ Union of Wales annual general meeting has been told.

Held at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, on Wednesday (15 October), Hybu Cig Cymru (Meat Promotion Wales) chief executive Jose Peralta told farmers that the industry needs to address its costs.

“If you compare our cost of production across the globe, we’re not competitive. A high price is not a premium,” he said.

See also: Morrisons expands Australian beef line

The beef retail price, the meeting heard, increased approximately 21%, while retail beef consumption dropped by 8%, which is a concern Mr Peralta said.

© FUW

Shelf space

“The price of beef today in retail is somewhere between three to four times the price of fresh chicken. If the price remains high, retailers will fill shelf space with what people want to buy in large quantities per square metre,” said Mr Peralta.

That opens the door to imports, he added, as seen by Morrisons importing Australian beef.

“Despite the high prices, people are not enthusiastic about increasing the beef herd. I’m concerned that the industry isn’t more ambitious. We should be going out there to try and conquer the world,” he added.

Challenging supermarkets 

Jeremy Moody, Central Association of Agricultural Valuers secretary and adviser, said: “The only way we have of challenging the supermarkets in pricing is by seeking out alternative markets so that they have to compete against the other markets.”

The key, he said, was to have the supermarkets competing, not the other way round, and to expand markets.

 “We have looked at ourselves very much as supplying the home market and then seen imports as a challenge and an affront to us. What we have not then done is seek out the opportunities so readily available in the wider world,” he added.

“We need to create for ourselves a wider range of markets, so that we are not then caught in a handful of very powerful supermarkets.”

With the loss of small abattoirs and Wales relying on just a few large production plants, power inevitably lies in fewer hands, including supermarkets.

FUW president Ian Rickman added: “As an industry, we’re in the hands of fewer and fewer buyers. The more buyers we have, the more competition there is, and the safer we are going forward.”