The European Commission presented on Wednesday 22 May a proposal to introduce more transparency on how prices of agri-food products are determined as they move along the food supply chain.
The Commission thus completes the measures taken to empower farmers in the food chain (see EUROPE 12232/16).
While there is a large amount of information available about developments in agricultural markets (prices, volumes of production, stocks, etc.), there is almost no market information about other key markets in the agri-food supply chain, namely those that operate between farmers and consumers at the food processing and the retail level.
This asymmetry of information between farmers and other actors in the food supply chain puts farmers at a significant disadvantage in the market and erodes trust in fair dealing. This lack of information on market developments from processors and retailers has been called the 'black box' of the supply chain. This proposal unlocks that box.
The proposed measures will cover the meat, eggs, dairy, fruit and vegetables, arable crops, sugar and olive oil sectors. They build on existing data collection systems and procedures that are already in place and in use by operators and Member States to report market information to the Commission. The scope of these procedures will now be widened. Each Member State will be responsible for the collection of price and market data. The Commission recommends that Member States choose the most cost-effective approach and do not target small and medium-sized enterprises to reduce the administrative burden. Member States will communicate the data to the Commission, who will in turn make the monitoring available on its agri-food data portal and EU market observatories.
The proposal is now published for a four-week public consultation period. It will then be adopted by the Commission and is planned to enter into force six months after its adoption.
To read the text of the proposal: http://bit.ly/30yGBed (Lionel Changeur)