Irish food and drink prices 30% higher than EU average

eightyfish

Tipp Man wrote: »

Fact number 1 - Glanbia made a profit of 97.4m in 2009, ALL of which was made by their foreign operations

They own the Avonmore brands. The Avonmore milk costs more because you are paying Glanbia for the brand.

Fact number 2

Addressed earlier

Fact number 3

Addressed earlier.

Fact number 4 - redundancies have nothing to do with creaming it

If you don't think redundancies are an indication that a company is not doing well then maybe you should be posting in the Conspiracy Theories forum. Superquinn is completely unionised - do you think the unions would have allowed 400 redundancies without a fight if they were not convinced the company wasn't doing well?

Fact number 5 This clearly highlights that the gap between the producers and the end buyers is growing

I don't doubt your figures, but again the view that this price gap is nothing to do with anyone in the supply chain, who are all being paid more than anywhere else in Europe (a fact you have repeatedly ignored), and all down to the supermarkets is simplistic.

Once again they can all get own brand milk elsewhere and sell is cheaper while still making a bigger margin than on branded milk.

If you can't see the simple fact that higher wages and higher costs in this country also contribute to higher prices all along the supply chain, then there's not much else to say.

eightyfish

eightyfish wrote: »

If you don't think redundancies are an indication that a company is not doing well then maybe you should be posting in the Conspiracy Theories forum. Superquinn is completely unionised - do you think the unions would have allowed 400 redundancies without a fight if they were not convinced the company wasn't doing well?

You must have missed what the main player in the market is doing?

I don't doubt your figures, but again the view that this price gap is nothing to do with anyone in the supply chain, who are all being paid more than anywhere else in Europe (a fact you have repeatedly ignored), and all down to the supermarkets is simplistic.

Once again they can all get own brand milk elsewhere and sell is cheaper while still making a bigger margin than on branded milk.

NI is the other source where the price paid to the farmer is the same pretty much as down south.
That point was addressed by Tipp man earlier.Did you miss that too?
It's 29c a litre to the farmer at the moment in the south versus 25p a litre in NI ie much the same or in fact a few cent more in NI..
In fact the price paid today versus the price paid to the NI farmer in 1995 is virtually the same - source.

If you can't see the simple fact that higher wages and higher costs in this country also contribute to higher prices all along the supply chain, then there's not much else to say.

The major fact that I can see is the tesco's of this world are creaming usurous profits from Irish food producers.
What they pay their staff isn't stopping them opening more stores to grow their usary.
A farmer cannot strike,he has to keep rearing his cattle and milking his cows or fertilising his crops so the large multiples have him/her over a barrel imorally..a lesser known fact than the mar dhea sexy treatment they give fair trade coffee.
Last year Ireland produced less milk than it did in 1983 by the way on a substantially smaller number of farms.
I'll bet the profits were a lot greater in 1983.In fact I know they were,given what costs were 27 years ago versus today.

FREETV

Deleted User wrote: »

You must have missed what the main player in the market is doing?


NI is the other source where the price paid to the farmer is the same pretty much as down south.
That point was addressed by Tipp man earlier.Did you miss that too?
It's 29c a litre to the farmer at the moment in the south versus 25p a litre in NI ie much the same or in fact a few cent more in NI..
In fact the price paid today versus the price paid to the NI farmer in 1995 is virtually the same - source.
The major fact that I can see is the tesco's of this world are creaming usurous profits from Irish food producers.
What they pay their staff isn't stopping them opening more stores to grow their usary.
A farmer cannot strike,he has to keep rearing his cattle and milking his cows or fertilising his crops so the large multiples have him/her over a barrel imorally..a lesser known fact than the mar dhea sexy treatment they give fair trade coffee.
Last year Ireland produced less milk than it did in 1983 by the way on a substantially smaller number of farms.
I'll bet the profits were a lot greater in 1983.In fact I know they were,given what costs were 27 years ago versus today.

When the Euro rate increases again in value against the Sterling as it is slowly at the moment, those of us within a couple of hours drive of the border in the North have the option of using those plug in type coolers available in Lidl or similar and buy in lots of milk, groceries, toiletries in particular, clothes, shoes and buy in bulk to make savings and fill up the large freezers at home and buy the own branded goods from Supermarkets to make further savings. As Vat is rising to 20% soon in the North and the cost of petrol is higher since the last budget here then buying more in bulk quantities is the only way to make any significant savings from the likes of LIdl, Sainsburys, Tescos etc. If one can get what they need and want to go North because of the exorbitant prices for almost everything here then fair play to them for making the choice to go to Down, Armagh or Belfast. People need to write to their local TD'S and whinge to them about the high cost of living here. Dairy products, meat and Bread should be lower for a start. Supermarket own brand milk, I found it disgusting when I compared it to the likes of Avonmore and Premier Milk. Milk sold in Lidl is watery, in particular their semiskimmed low fat milk but still tastes nicer than a certain Irish supermarket milk even though it may be produced somewhere else in the EU. You get what you pay for and own brand milk isn't necessarily a quality product even though it is cheaper.

eightyfish

Deleted User wrote: »

You must have missed what the main player in the market is doing?

What has that got to do with 400 redundancies indicating Superquinn is not "milking it".

Deleted User wrote: »

It's 29c a litre to the farmer at the moment in the south versus 25p a litre in NI ie much the same or in fact a few cent more in NI..

I did see this pointed out in post 25. Yet the supermarkets can still sell the NI milk cheaper. Middle man? Also SQ buy their milk from the south and avoid Glanbia, and can sell it cheaper. My point here is quite simple: It's not just the supermarkets that are at fault for high prices.

eightyfish

eightyfish wrote: »

What has that got to do with 400 redundancies indicating Superquinn is not "milking it".

Simple.It means the reason for the job losses are nothing to do with the excessive margin they share with others on food.

I did see this pointed out in post 25. Yet the supermarkets can still sell the NI milk cheaper. Middle man?

Nope.
No middle man.It actually costs more for them to get milk from up there as opposed to sourcing it from Irelands largest plants at Bally ragget or Ballytore.The explanation is simple,they use that NI supply [or in the case of some of them,the threat of that supply] to bargain down the price they get the south milk for.
They put it on sale at the cheaper price to make that point even though they are getting it for much the same price.
It's no conspiracy,it's what the southern dairies will openly tell any farmer what the multiples will do.
It's perfectly legal-even though ,it's actually another form of predatory pricing.

Also SQ buy their milk from the south and avoid Glanbia, and can sell it cheaper. My point here is quite simple: It's not just the supermarkets that are at fault for high prices.

Well your point is wrong.
Any variance in price between multiples on the price of ROI sourced milk that they sell is small compared to the margin they have on it.
It's done for 2 reasons,(1) for to make it the footfall product and (2) as already explained to beat the southern milk price down.

Fair trade in milk my aunt sally and as I said the farmer can't strike.
Occasionally you'll see them doing a slow trolley protest in some supermarkets but thats about it.
If they blockade,they're arrested.
If they strike,they have to throw out their milk and get done for pollution which they won't do.

Think about that ,the next time you are buying food.

azzie

Completely unscientific, but a comparison on the sort of things we buy. I stuck to one supermarket in each country (although we'd normally buy some things from Lidl) and although I went for the cheapest price for each item, there aren't any promos here currently as it's a holiday place - lots of Irish people here!
ITEM

TESCO IE

LECLERC

TESCO UK

Chicken breast 595g
5.49
6.03
4.45
Pork sausages 12
4.00
3.50
1.71
Cod fillets
11.99
14.98
10.29
Pork chops 800g
5.52
4.00
4.05
Whole chicken 1200g
4.20
4.74
2.81
1kg potatoes
1.71
1.20
0.89
lemon
0.37
0.20
0.41
1kg carrots
1.29
0.90
0.89
1kg nectarines
3.49
2.55
2.37
1kg apples
2.59
0.76
0.92
Butter 454g
1.79
1.92
2.11
6 eggs
0.99
1.02
1.07
Cream 500ml
2.65
1.00
1.87
200g brie
1.09
0.89
1.64
200g cheddar
1.00
2.00
1.18
Wash up liquid 500ml
0.85
0.25
0.60
Food bags 50
0.62
0.56
0.43
Toilet paper 16 roll
3.16
1.50
2.03
4 kitchen rolls
2.59
0.85
2.60
Arial liquitabs 20
8.99
8.90
4.73
1 kg sugar
0.85
0.72
0.90
Plain flour 1kg
1.29
0.30
0.33
200g salted peanuts
0.59
0.34
0.47
1lt sunflower oil
1.45
1.12
1.19
Tuna chunks in oil
2.29
1.03
2.20
Baked beans x 4
2.99
1.22
1.98
6 litres skimmed milk
4.50
3.42
3.48
1lt tonic
0.75
0.58
0.56
160 teabags
3.04
1.82
0.66
1lt orange juice
0.85
0.99
0.66
70cl gin
12.29
6.87
9.20
1.5kg oven chips
0.97
1.42
0.85
4 part bake baguettes
1.99
2.27
1.18
1 litre olive oil
5.29
2.45
3.76
TOTAL

103.52
82.30
74.47

azzie

Mmm - that didn't work very well! Seem to have lost the table. Oh well, the 1st price is Ireland, 2nd France and 3rd is UK