19th January 2015

ICSA president Patrick Kent has reiterated his call for regulation and examination of margins in the retail food chain which apply to key farm products. “ICSA believes that we must have transparency around how the profits from key products like beef, lamb and dairy are shared between farmers, processors and retailers,” said Mr. Kent.

“ICSA is proposing that the EU Commission needs to introduce a pan-European regulator which would have power to audit the whole retail chain and discern whether there was a fair share of margins allocated to all parts of the chain. ICSA argues that the past twelve months provide ample evidence that farmers are not getting a fair share of the final retail price, in beef for instance. We believe that this must be the business of the EU Commission given that the success of the CAP is being undermined by farmers losing money in the marketplace.”

Reacting to the launch of a consultation by the Commission on producer organisations, Mr. Kent said that the EU proposals are not going to be effective given the power of a small number of retail giants which dominate the EU retail trade for beef.