In a debate with experts on empowering farmers on Thursday 27 March, the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture called for measures at EU level to improve prices paid to farmers and transparency in the supply chain.
Anton Delbarre (EuroCommerce) said that, with regard to organic produce in the Netherlands, there was no link between farmers’ net margins and supermarket margins. Kjartan Poulsen (European Milk Board) called for EU legislation providing for prices above production costs and a reform of the contract system.
For Benoit Cassart (Renew Europe, Belgian), we must never forget that the cost of production in a liberal economy is not linked in the short term to price. Price is the result of supply and demand. “In this context, the ban on sales at a loss makes no sense, since in a liberal economy no one is capable of forcing a buyer to buy a product, whatever the price”, he said.
Stefano Bonaccini (S&D, Italian) called for greater transparency, so as to know the structure of prices and all the players along the supply chain and what their margins are. It is also important, in his view, to apply the directive on combating unfair commercial practices across borders. Mr Bonaccini suggested the creation of a European system for monitoring prices throughout the supply chain (this already exists in some Member States, such as Italy). This measure would provide data for the forthcoming revision of the directive on unfair practices “and could even lead to a ban on below-cost selling”, explained Mr Bonaccini.
For Fabio Del Bravo (Istituto di Servizi Mercato Agricolo Alimentare), market transparency enables politicians and consumers to make choices. The Ministry has just introduced a system for comparing production and sales prices. There is a problem of concentration, admitted Mr Del Bravo. He advised eliminating unnecessary costs in the supply chain.
“We can no longer accept late payments and unilateral changes to contracts”, said Maria Grapini (S&D, Romanian), who criticised market speculators. Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA, German) pointed out that in his country, the large chains determine the prices of 85% of the market. “We need to think about how to limit this process of concentration”.
For Éric Sargiacomo (S&D, French), the idea in the French Egalim law that ensuring a minimum margin for distributors will benefit farmers “is clearly a failure”. He advised the French government to use the means available to “strengthen supply”, in particular by funding producer organisations. Céline Bonnet (INRAE, French) criticised certain elements of this law, including the increase in the loss leader threshold. In her opinion, the initiatives do not go far enough in terms of penalties, which are not applied, concluded Ms Bonnet. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)