EuroCommerce, the representative group for retail and wholesale in Europe, is calling on the European Commission to deliver evidence-based policy measures to improve the food supply chain.
The organisation has raised concerns that regulating trading practices will not help farmers become competitive or improve their income, and has asked the Commission to launch a wide stakeholder dialogue to agree on solutions that can make a real difference to farmers.
"Retailers and wholesalers want a constructive dialogue with farmers on how we can cooperate to ensure that farmers know what consumers are buying and maximise their value-added from what they produce," said Christian Verschueren, EuroCommerce director-general.
"We understand the challenges facing agriculture and are keen to contribute positively to finding sustainable and effective solutions to help farmers become competitive and improve their revenues in an open market economy."
Trade Relationships
EuroCommerce says that retailers deal very little with farmers directly, but when they do, they treat these suppliers in a completely different way to multinational corporations.
The organisation is concerned that the Commission does not understand the variety of relationships and roles in the supply chain.
It adds that regulating practices, without consideration of who they are with, will make it more difficult for all parties to adapt to changing consumer demand and reduce negotiations to discussing prices.
This may skew relationships to benefit large manufacturers, who already make substantial profits, according to EuroCommerce.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
