The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has stated that “retrospective demands for money and changes to trading terms” were just some of concerns that were reported to them days before the Grocery Suppliers Code of Practice was introduced today.
The new code will provide retailers with clear guidelines for dealing with suppliers and contains an over-riding principle of fair dealing.
However, the NFU says that, as recent retail buyer behaviour demonstrates, the start of the strengthened code, policed by an independent ombudsman, could not have come quickly enough.
NFU president Peter Kendall said: “Recent reports to me about retailer behaviour in the supply chain have demonstrated nothing but bully-boy tactics.
“This week should have been marked by a sea change in grocery supply chain relationships with our farmer and grower members, but instead in the past 10 days I have heard how suppliers to major retailers have faced some of the most unreasonable demands for retrospective payments and changes to trading terms that we’ve ever seen.
“Retailers are effectively launching pre-emptive strikes on suppliers before the new grocery suppliers code of practice – and the protection it affords – comes into force. Squeezing the very life blood out of British producers will only reduce supply and, in the long-term, affect consumer choice.
“The whole supply chain should be working together to meet the long-term challenges that the food system faces – feeding a growing global population while impacting less on the environment.”
