THREE major retailers in Donegal are among national outlets which have reduced the price of their own bread.
Tesco, Aldi and Lidl announced they were cutting the price of their own-brand bread by 10c. The move came into effect on Thursday.
Last week the same supermarkets cut 40c off the price of a pound of their own-brand butters.
Milk was another household staple to have also been reduced across the three retailers.
They rolled out milk price cuts equating to 10c for a two-litre carton of own-brand milk.
From Thursday, May 11, Tesco’s own brand of 800g white sliced pan was reduced to 89c from 99c.
Aldi’s price reduction saw its sliced pan loaves reduced by 10c each to 89c for its white bread, 99c for its brown bread. Its white/wholemeal half pan was reduced from 89c to 85c.
Lidl has also reduced its own medium sliced white pan (800g) and medium sliced brown pan (800g) by 10c. CEO of Tesco Ireland, Natasha Adams, said it has been an incredibly tough year for customers.
“We have been determined to try and alleviate that pressure.
“We are extremely conscious of the cost of living challenge being experienced by our customers, which is why we are moving to reduce the cost of another staple.”
Following a special meeting of the Retail Forum, Retail Ireland Director Arnold Dillon said the retail sector “fully appreciates the concerns of customers at the high levels of food inflation”.
He said retailers are actively working to minimise the impact on consumers of massive EU-wide commodity price increases and this will continue.
“Irish food inflation has been amongst the lowest in Europe over recent years.
“Average EU food inflation has been 27 per cent over the last two years, in Ireland it was 17 per cent. In the last year, average EU food inflation has been 19 per cent, in Ireland it was 13 per cent. Prior to the recent period of inflation, Irish food prices fell for over ten years, driven by intense price competition in the market.”
But Irish Farmers’ Association President Tim Cullinan said public commentary about food costs and food inflation is “misinformed”.
“Farmers are financially worse off today than they were 18 months ago, and this is borne out in the CSO data,” he said.
He commented the CSO data shows that in 2022 Agricultural Output prices rose by 26.4 per cent, but this was eclipsed by farm input prices rising by 34.7 per cent.
“Despite higher prices for farmers, our margins were eroded with our Terms of Trade reducing by 6.2 per cent. Even more worrying, the latest CSO data shows that input prices on farms have fallen by 0.9 per cent in February 2023, but farm output prices fell by more at 3.9 per cent. This level of squeeze on farmers cannot continue,” he said.
IFA has sought an urgent meeting with Minister Neale Richmond to discuss the food chain.
“Pigs, poultry, liquid milk producers and vegetable growers were left carrying the can in 2022 and had to fight tooth and nail to get the retailers to pass back completely justified wholesale price increases. It came too late for many,” he said.
“Pig numbers are down 10 per cent; eggs are in very short supply; liquid milk farmers are switching to seasonal production; and we have lost field vegetable growers.”
He said there are fewer than 100 commercial field vegetable growers are left, and warned more will leave unless the Government regulates the food chain and retailers.
“There was never a more urgent need for the Food Regulator to be in place to ensure fairness and transparency,” Mr Cullinan said.
“This has been promised in the Programme for Government and must now be delivered by the Minister for Agriculture. The primary function of this legislation is to protect the most vulnerable in the food production chain.”
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