Claims by Waitrose that its broccoli prices are defying the credit crunch have been attacked by the industry as an attempt to garner “short-term publicity, without looking at the bigger picture”.
As storms battered the UK and growers of broccoli and other brassicas were dealing with particularly inclement weather, Waitrose publicised what it describes as significant deflation in its vegetable lines, with overall prices for vegetables “13.5 per cent lower compared with 2007”, and broccoli apparently showing the highest reduction in price.
In a press release, the supermarket chain revealed that broccoli prices reached a high of £3.29 a kilo in 2007, compared to £1.49 a kilo now. It also stated that the price of cauliflower in store is down by 10.3 per cent year on year, and cabbage has experienced a price reduction of 8.5 per cent.
Waitrose senior vegetable buyer Richard Bickerton said: “These lower prices ensure that our customers can still stock up on fresh British vegetables, despite a general rise in food costs. As the credit crunch bites, shoppers can look for healthy options and need not forgo their 5 A DAY.”
But despite the hype, the British Brassica Growers’ Association (BGA) has said that the figures used in Waitrose’s statement are misleading and, at a time when broccoli growers are receiving 10 per cent less in returns than expected, potentially damaging to the vegetable industry.
Vice-chairman of the BGA, Alistair Ewan, told FPJ: “We believe that the two periods that Waitrose has compared are simply not comparable; it is not a like-for-like situation. If people cast their minds back to this time of year in 2007, Californian broccoli was being brought into the country, creating a massive cost for growers - you cannot compare that to what the housewife pays for British broccoli this year. [Waitrose] is confusing the figures and has swept under the table the huge losses that growers faced last year, hence the consumer had to pay more for vegetables.”
The vegetable industry is calling for retailers to recognise the cost pressures that growers are facing. An industry insider, who asked not to be named, told FPJ: “Looking forward, there is a need for understanding. To publish a decrease in price at this time is a concern, as the high price last year was an artificial one caused by a wash-out season.
“To say the price is down is not a fair representation of the trend, and it is the last thing the UK industry needs as growers decide whether to stay in the business or not.
“Prices are only going to go up and to imply to consumers that the price is going down is a real problem.”
Ewan added: “Even though it has not been as bad a season [for brassicas] as last year, 2008 has not been a good year and growers are receiving 10 per cent less than their sustainability level. This year was always going to be a make or break situation and our members are certainly not having the best time.”
On the weather, Phillip Effingham, chairman of the BGA, said: “The wet weather means that, as well as being well behind on plantings, growers are finding it difficult to access their fields to apply fungicides. And in Cornwall, there are concerns because of the difficulty in establishing spring green plantings and problems for cauliflower with waterlogging.”
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