The National Farmers’ Union and actionaid have joined forces to place a full-page ad in The Times, calling for a supermarket watchdog. The Competition Commission suggested a watchdog as a remedy to problems identified in its investigation of the UK grocery market, a proposal welcomed by farmers and other supermarket suppliers, but starkly opposed by most large retailers.
Supermarkets are mixing cheaper imported beef with British, says the National Beef Association. Taking advantage of reduced prices for beef from the Republic of Ireland, several retailers are now mixing imported beef with British beef to avoid increasing prices for home-produced beef.
Only Morrisons, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Co-op, Budgens sell 100% British. Tesco’s sales of British beef have dropped from 98% to 90% since 2007, while just 60% of ASDA’s beef is British. Anyone wishing to buy British beef should certainly avoid Netto, which imports all its beef. Despite these varied sourcing policies, surprising results emerge from price comparisons.
During the Competition Commission’s lengthy inquiry into the grocery market in 2006 to 2008, the media was b u z z i n g with questions about the supermarkets’ alleged practice of landbanking (holding or controlling land for future development or to impede the entry of competitors to the local market). It all went rather [...]
The Co-operative Group has announced today that it’s agreed to buy Somerfield for just short of £1.6 billion. The co-op is different from other retailers. It’s owned by its customers (those who elect to become members) and has a long commitment to quality, healthy food and to the environment and animal welfare. This is a momentous development in British retail.
Barack Obama supports US union’s campaign for union engagement and better working conditions at Tesco’s US Fresh and Easy stores
The Competition Commission’s provisional findings include real criticism of supermarket practices with suggested remedies that might just tackle some of the problems. But suggested changes to the planning system would be nothing less than a bonanza for the larger retailers and spell disaster for town centres and the small independent operators.
Check prices now Check today’s price of milk in Tesco / Asda / Sainsburys / Waitrose – Ocado with mySupermarket.co.uk The Rising Price of Milk Two weeks ago, Tesco was widely praised in the media for announcing two initiatives: To increase the price UK dairy farmers receive for milk, while not raising the price of [...]
Philip Pullman once wrote that books are not eggs, his point being that every book is different whereas we expect every egg we buy to be the same. Agreed, books should not be treated as a commodity, but nor should eggs. Every egg is an individual creation, laid by a hen of some particular variety, fed and kept in a particular way, in a particular location.
Andrew Simms, policy director of the New Economics Foundation, yesterday compared the big retailers to invasive species like the Nile Perch and Japanese knotweed. Honey fungus (Armillaria mellea and related species) also springs to mind, its superficially attractive fruiting bodies sprouting up prolifically while insidiously killing off surrounding plants. Over the last few decades, the [...]
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