The government is calling on retailers to protect the prices paid to farmers while reducing food costs facing consumers in supermarkets.
The Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Neale Richmond is scheduled to meet with the Retail Forum this afternoon (Wednesday, May 10) to discuss ongoing high food costs.
The current rate of general inflation is now close to 6%, down from a high of 10%, and it is expected to fall even further towards 4.5% this year.
According to latest figures from data company Kantar, grocery price inflation in Ireland was running at 16.6% in the 12 weeks to April 16.
Retailers
Ahead of today’s meeting, Tesco Ireland has confirmed it is to reduce the consumer retail price on its own brand bread by 10 cent.
Tesco own brand 800g white sliced pan will now be priced at 89c, down 10c from 99c, and corresponding reductions will apply to all other Tesco own brand sliced pans.
The decision, which is likely to be replicated by other retailers, follows a series of milk and butter price cuts in the past week.
However, the government is demanding more action from retailers to help consumers who are struggling with high food costs.
The government is said to be “extremely reluctant” to go down the route of introducing price caps on goods.
In a response to a series of questions ahead of today’s meeting from Agriland, Minister Richmond issued the following statement:
“I will chair a meeting of the retail forum today to discuss rising grocery prices which have not come down in line with dropping inflation.
“Farmers and producers are not members of the retail forum given its nature but I will meet with the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) tomorrow to discuss their concerns.
“Our farmers haven’t seen the prices they’re paid at the farm gate increase at the same rate we’ve seen prices go up at the check out despite very real increases in costs for them from fertiliser to energy and much more.
“We are expecting both the retailers and food companies to act in a manner that drops prices at the checkout, especially in staple goods, while also protecting the prices paid to our farmers,” the minister said.
Prices
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar yesterday (Tuesday, May 9) told the Dáil that the government expects retailers to further reduce prices.
“They put prices up when their costs went up; now that their costs are coming down, we expect them to bring down prices. We are starting to see a bit of that, but not enough,” he said.
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns has said that today’s meeting of the Retail Forum “needs to be much more than just a listening exercise”.
Established in 2014, the Retail Forum meets on a quarterly basis and includes retail representative bodies; retailers; the City and County Managers Association; and government departments.
Members of the forum include Tesco Ireland and the Musgraves Group which owns the SuperValu and Centra brands.
The purpose of the forum is to discuss relevant issues in the retail sector and to identify practical actions which could be taken by government, or by the industry itself.
The Retail Forum is expected to meet again next month for a regular scheduled meeting.