Retailers retaliate in Spanish price spat
of foodstuffs does not tell the real story, claims Spanish retail
association Asedas. Most stores do not use farm-gate prices as
their reference, the organsiation said, and many other price
increases have not been taken into account by the authorities.
The government's list of producer and retailer prices for a variety of foodstuffs does not tell the real story, claims Spanish retail association Asedas.
According to a report from Europa Press, most retailers do not mark up prices by anything near as much as the government figures, published from this week on the ministry of agriculture website, would suggest.
Ignacio García Magarzo, head of Asedas, told the news service: "The difference in the producer and retailer price for fresh food products at most of Asedas' members is by no means as great as that suggested by the government on the website."
He said that the problem stemmed from the fact that the government figures were based on farm gate prices - those charged by the growers themselves - whereas most retailers bought their produce from individuals or organisations further up the food chain - co-operatives, markets, wholesalers - who had already added their own mark up to the price.
By way of example, he highlighted the price difference for salad tomatoes. According to the government figures, the retailers' mark up was on average 89 per cent; Asedas figures suggest that it is in fact nearer 33 per cent - still high, but necessary as a result of reduced demand following the summer heat wave.
A similar pattern emerges for other products. Potatoes, for example, were subject to a 312 per cent increase, according to the government figures, whereas the retail organisation suggested that the increase was a much more reasonable 45 per cent.
García Magarzo told Europa Press that there was "very little information about how fresh produce prices were calculated" and that far from profiting from consumers by hiking prices as far as they would go, the Spanish retail trade was the most competitive part of the food chain, keeping prices low to attract custom.
Costs such as logistics, transport processing and packaging were often swallowed by the retailers in order to keep prices low, even with the mark up, he said. "It is much more expensive to sell food than to produce it," he said.
Scant comfort for the Spanish farming sector whose margins are under constant pressure from retailers, and a statement which is likely to lead to further vociferous debate about relationships between those who make the food and those who sell it.
