Brussels, 06/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - European Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan said in Dublin on Tuesday 6 January that he wanted to sort out current problems in the food supply chain.
“On the retail side of the equation it is clearly obvious that highly concentrated input suppliers have real pricing power and are using that power. It looks to me that the margins being extracted are far higher than can be justified particularly considering the current benign backdrop on energy prices”, he said in a speech on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Irish Farmers' Association.
How, he asked, is it possible that, even though the Brent crude oil price has fallen by in excess of 45% since June 2014, Irish fertiliser prices are likely to increase by 7% in 2015? He intends to raise the matter with Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, “who will not hesitate to investigate any instances of potential activity which breaches competition rules”. It is important, Hogan said, that input costs reduce “in line with the general fall in energy prices”.
Hogan went on to say that the present supply chain initiative at EU level “unfortunately still does not cover all relevant actors”. “I will not hesitate to call for changes so that farmers are not put out of business arising from the squeeze on their margin of profitability”, he stated, arguing that “all players in the food chain should realise that it is imperative that producers get a decent return for their raw material. Without producers none of the downstream businesses would even exist”.
Hogan pointed out that, in 2013 alone, 61,000 new jobs were created in Ireland, with 27,000 of these in agriculture, forestry and fisheries. (LC)