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UK Farmers: Crisis Point?
Buyer Power of Supermarkets
In November 1999, the supermarket retailer 'Safeway' sent letters to their farmer suppliers asking for a contribution of £20,000 per product line, in order to improve marketing of the products. They went on to invoice their suppliers for these sums. In October 2000 the UK Competition Commission found Safeway's and several other supermarkets' actions to be exploitative. The Commission instructed the supermarkets to create and adhere to a Code of Conduct aimed at avoiding repeats of this behaviour, but this appears to have failed as the supermarkets seem to be side-stepping the Code as they attempt to do business only with the largest scale suppliers at the lowest cost.