Jacobs to take retailers to court for importing from UK

leeroybrown

Indeed. If memory servers me correctly Jacobs closed their main Irish production facilities earlier this year.

Edit: Here's a link. It appears that they do still do some limited premium biscuit manufacturing here but the bulk of their Irish operation has ceased with the loss of approximately two thirds of their original staff level.

Victor

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1127/1224259547520.html

"RGDATA members say that by sourcing from the UK, they are able to sell many well-known biscuits at prices lower than the list price charged in the Republic."

Ahem. List price?

meathstevie

And does anyone honestly think no other supermarket chains pull the same tricks as Tesco ?

What's next ? A car manufacturer taking an independent dealer to court for buying stock in the UK and registering the cars in Ireland ?

Is Jacobs/Fruitfield in essence saying that they have the prices in the Irish market artificially inflated since the same product can be bought wholesale in the UK for significantly less ?

Victor

meathstevie wrote: »

Is Jacobs/Fruitfield in essence saying that they have the prices in the Irish market artificially inflated since the same product can be bought wholesale in the UK for significantly less ?

Their cost base may not be the same as McVities.

meathstevie

Agree with you to an extent Victor but probably not in as much as to explain the differences.

Taxipete29

AARRRGH wrote: »

Is this the same reason we have Mighty Munch and Monster Munch here?

Tayto had a licence to use the name Monster Munch over here. When Walkers entered the Irish market they withdrew the licence forcing Tayto to switch to Mighty Munch.

Count Dooku

Diarmuid wrote: »

Considering Ireland exports a lot more than it imports, we can be thankful that our foreign trade partners don't have the same attitude as you. Otherwise say goodbye to a lot more Irish jobs.

If you will take into account that most of export belong to MNC’s and they are taking back a lot of money (difference between GDP and GNP), then you see that there is not so much surplus

eddiehobbs

schween wrote: »

The biscuit manufacturer Jacobs is to take unnamed Irish retailers to court in order to stop them from importing their products from cheaper UK rivals.

http://www.rte.ie/business/2009/1126/jacob.html

Apparently McVities in the UK owns the rights to manufacture and distribute the likes of Fig Rolls in the UK but Irish retailers are bypassing Jacobs in Ireland and importing them from McVities at lower prices.

The woman from RGDATA does have a point about the free flow of goods within the EU. I presume Tesco is one of the main offenders, but it does say a number of Irish retailers.

Can they stop them? It says they stopped a Donegal retailer from doing the same thing. Now they are taking on the larger chains I presume.

I hope jacobs win this if only for the sake of Irish jobs. Although i reckon the damage has probably already been done with the closure earlier this year

With regards to them bieng cheaper to import id imagine wages bieng a big part of that, €8.65 min here, £5.80 in the uk. Its no coincidence that the start of the influx of foriegn uk product coincided with the collapse in sterling

ConsiderThis

eddiehobbs wrote: »

I hope jacobs win this if only for the sake of Irish jobs. Although i reckon the damage has probably already been done with the closure earlier this year

With regards to them bieng cheaper to import id imagine wages bieng a big part of that, €8.65 min here, £5.80 in the uk. Its no coincidence that the start of the influx of foriegn uk product coincided with the collapse in sterling

For the sake of irish jobs? I thought the Jacobs factory in Tallaght either had closed or was about to close?

I am sure you are right that our minimum wage, which is nearly 25% higher than in the UK, probably paid a part in the demise of many factories and businesses here, Jacobs was additionally a byword for restrictive practices and inflexibility amongst the staff.

tallaghtfornia

I am sure you are right that our minimum wage, which is nearly 25% higher than in the UK, probably paid a part in the demise of many factories and businesses here, Jacobs, was additionally a byword for restrictive practices and inflexibility amongst the staff.

Jacobs like many other ‘Irish’ food companies have outsourced there manufacturing to cheaper European countries (Understood they are a business and have to make money) what annoys me is they never pass the savings on to the consumer.

What are they still producing in Ireland?
And in which plant?

They produce premium jams and some sauces in Drogheda under the name the ‘Real Irish food company’. They also use a company in Ashbourne called ‘Irish Cone and wafer’ to manufacture there ice cream wafers. As far as I know that’s the only manufacturing they have left in ROI. The rest of there products are located outside Ireland including Chef Sauce and Fruitfeild jam (even though they don't state were any of there products are made on there packaging).

The loss of even more jobs. I'd happily pay a few cents more for my fig rolls if it means saving Irish jobs

Jacobs Fig Rolls are now manufactured in France

Victor

tallaghtfornia wrote: »

even though they don't state were any of there products are made on there packaging

All food will either have country of origin if made outside the EU or and EU code with the two- or three-letter country code and a manufacturer number.

nesf

bamboozle wrote: »

i have no problem with cheap goods from other countries, my problem is with large supermarket chains such as Tesco taking advantage of weak laws here that see them presenting goods as being irish - a prime example is the 'irish produce' sticker they put on the thousands of chicken breasts they import from Thailand and have packaged here, they do this with many goods trying to pass them off as being irish.

Your ire should be directed at our laws not retailers! The focus should be on politicians to change this rather than the retailers who are acting legally.

tallaghtfornia

All food will either have country of origin if made outside the EU or and EU code with the two- or three-letter country code and a manufacturer number.

Only if its a dairy product or frozen

Example: Lyons Tea bags are packaged in Manchester by Unilever (The same factory as PG Tips) but on the packaging it only states there office in City west, there is no compulsory requirement for an EU manufacturer to state were the product is made on the label.