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No cheap Brussel Sprouts this year!

FrStone

Discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl have promised to avoid the Christmas price war which saw Brussels sprouts on sale for five cents a bag last year.

The selling of vegetables below production costs to draw in shoppers led to protests from vegetable growers, who said that it was putting their livelihoods in danger.

Farmers bought up some of the cut-price onions, potatoes, carrots and Brussels sprouts and gave them away for free to shoppers in protest.

Minister of State for Agriculture Tom Hayes responded by holding a series of meetings with major supermarkets, including Aldi, Lidl and Tesco. He also spoke by phone with Musgraves, the owner of Supervalu and Centra.
All of the supermarket chains agreed that they would not run similar promotional campaigns this Christmas.

The only supermarket which has so far not given such a pledge is Dunnes Stores. A spokeswoman for Hayes said he had invited Dunnes Stores to meet him, but the company had not taken him up on his invitation “to date”.
Fianna Fáil TD Eamon O’Cuiv, who has been meeting with vegetable growers, called on Dunnes Stores to sign up to the agreement to avoid below cost selling of vegetables at Christmas.

"If one supermarket breaks it, the rest will follow. We had a ceasefire at Christmas in 1914 and we need a ceasefire on vegetable prices in 2014," he said.

Around €433 million worth of Irish fruit, vegetables and potatoes were grown here last year, with over €300 million of it sold through supermarkets.

http://www.businesspost.ie/#!story/Home/News/Supermarkets+agree+to+avoid+Christmas+vegetable+price+war/id/87198161-2385-469c-30e8-603e03589711

I only recently came across this article over in Bargain Alerts and wishing not to go off topic over there I thought I would discuss it over here.

Why is the Minister getting involved in private business, it is not illegal to sell produce below cost. If private supermarkets wish to sell Brussel Sprouts as loss leaders then so be it. Lidl and Aldi both confirmed last year that they did not pass the hit onto the suppliers.

I wonder if this was reported to the Competition authority what would the result of their investigation be.

Once again the consumer will suffer. If it was alcohol selling for that price I can see why people would be angry but cheap vegetables can only be welcomed in this country especially if it encourages people to eat more of them.

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ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Good. Fair enough for the consumer to pay a fair price rather than the producer being coerced into supplying at a loss.

Peregrine

FrStone wrote: »

Once again the consumer will suffer.

Brussel sprouts not being available for 5c a bag is hardly suffering.

The Backwards Man

I grow my own sprouts. They cost me fcuk all.

FrStone

Cohen Handsome Protein wrote: »

Good. Fair enough for the consumer to pay a fair price rather than the producer being coerced into supplying at a loss.

Producers were NOT supplying at a loss. This was confirmed by both Aldi and Lidl that the producers were still being paid the full price.

ednwireland

just looked at aldi super six sprouts ,parsnips,carrots and spuds are 49c wonder how long that agreement will last then

FrStone

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/1219/493839-farmers-protest/

In a statement to RTÉ News, SuperValu said it will absorb the cost of the price cuts currently being offered on some fruit and vegetables in its stores and costs will not be passed on to producers.

Both Lidl and Aldi have confirmed, via separate statements to RTÉ News, that they are not passing the costs of the special offer vegetables back to producers.

Both companies said producers are being paid as normal and the cost of the special offers is being absorbed by the companies.

markfinn

Sprouts priced at €50 per sprout is a lot less suffering than sprouts priced at 5c a bag.

[Deleted User]

How is it legal for the companies to agree with each other to keep prices up?

NIMAN

Depends what you consider cheap.

I've seen plenty of offers for £1 for sprouts, you'd hardly have to remortgage the house to buy those.

Banjo String

Brusselsprouts are like pubes.

You just push them to the side and carryon nomming.

Buona Fortuna

FrStone wrote: »

Producers were NOT supplying at a loss. This was confirmed by both Aldi and Lidl that the producers were still being paid the full price.

Good, because those are exactly the people I'd be asking if their suppliers had suffered at all

kneemos

Buona Fortuna wrote: »

Good, because those are exactly the people I'd be asking if their suppliers had suffered at all

They were shifting shed loads of veg at full price.If they weren't you can be sure we would have heard all about it.

The only farmers complaining were those not supplying the supermarkets.

BlaasForRafa

Brussel Sprouts are mank anyway.

johndaman66

Well fuk this crap of the farmers holding the country to ransom yet again and the Minister of State for Agriculture getting involved...if anything it would seem to me that they are breaking competition laws but as and aside from that it would appear that quite a number of the retailers have confirmed that they are absorbing the losses and not the farmers. If the farmer are not happy they can sell to different retailers or sell their own produce on the side of the street or fuk off, leave us alone and let the veg rot in the ground.

The whole affair reminds us of the whole buy Irish thing and support Irish jobs and industry etc. being drilled into us at school...fiacla toothpaste always being used as an example. I'm all for supporting Irish jobs if I can and will pay a few cent extra on a product to support Irish jobs if need be (even though it can sometimes be hard to justify for certain products in question). However, I will not pay double the price on every second product to support Irish jobs...I just cannot afford to do that

GoldFour4

It would appear to me that producers want the product to be priced at the same rate year round which is fair enough. I think there's a lot of people who would go into the supermarket at christmas and see a bag of sprouts for 5 cent and then wonder why they aren't normally that price. They won't bother to look at statements on the company on how they can sell the spouts for so cheap. It devalues the farmers product to some extent.

pconn062

Sprouts were 49 cent for a bag when I was in there earlier today, that seems pretty cheap to me!

https://www.aldi.ie/en/product-range/super-6/super-6-fruit-veg/

catallus

49c?!

What happens to all the sprouts they can't sell at those outrageously exorbitant prices?

seamus

This was the core of the farmers' issue last year:

They said large retailers are damaging small businesses as they compete to attract customers.

In other words, the smaller retailers were either looking for cheaper prices from the producers to let them compete, or just giving up altogether and buying less stock.

Tough sh1t lads, that's called market forces.

Shenshen

malistheman wrote: »

It would appear to me that producers want the product to be priced at the same rate year round which is fair enough. I think there's a lot of people who would go into the supermarket at christmas and see a bag of sprouts for 5 cent and then wonder why they aren't normally that price. They won't bother to look at statements on the company on how they can sell the spouts for so cheap. It devalues the farmers product to some extent.

I would challenge you to walk into any supermarket here in April and see any sprouts in the vegetable aisles at all. They seem to be almost the only seasonal vegetable left.

DarByrne1980

BlaasForRafa wrote: »

Brussel Sprouts are mank anyway.

ur dead rite. If they were givin them away for free i wouldnt take dem. An awful vegetable.

the groutch

I can guarantee you Dunnes will go ahead and do it anyway.

GoldFour4

Shenshen wrote: »

I would challenge you to walk into any supermarket here in April and see any sprouts in the vegetable aisles at all. They seem to be almost the only seasonal vegetable left.

Fairly sure I've had them at other times of the year in carverys and the such.

ted1

FrStone wrote: »

Producers were NOT supplying at a loss. This was confirmed by both Aldi and Lidl that the producers were still being paid the full price.

But what were Dunnes, Tesco and musgraves paying?

Tail Docker

I love sprouts. I like these ones, and I like these ones.. moreish little cabbagey rascals.

lazybones32

I remember something about supermarket 'wars' in the 80's, where bread was practically given-away free and the Law had to be changed/altered because if it weren't checked, large stores could decide to monopolise the market within 6 months by under-pricing every other retailer.
I googled it and couldn't find anything but we were definitely taught it in commerce.

Sprouts are satan's hemorrhoids: that's why they smell bad before and after consumption <parrp!>

Shenshen

malistheman wrote: »

Fairly sure I've had them at other times of the year in carverys and the such.

Musgraves carries the frozen ones year round, yes.
But not fresh ones in the vegetable aisle.

kneemos

Shenshen wrote: »

Musgraves carries the frozen ones year round, yes.
But not fresh ones in the vegetable aisle.

Pretty sure I've seen sprouts during the year.

Shenshen

kneemos wrote: »

Pretty sure I've seen sprouts during the year.

Next time you do, please let me know.

I like them, and would have been used to buying them any time of the year back home, but when I came here I found that virtually nowhere sells them in summer.

Molester Stallone II

Aldi doing sprouts, parsnips, carrots and.....pineapples! for €0.49 today... We'll feast like kings!!

Shenshen

Molester Stallone II wrote: »

Aldi doing sprouts, parsnips, carrots and.....pineapples! for €0.49 today... We'll feast like kings!!

Pineapples? Need to get myself down there, I've been meaning to make pineapple and mango jam, I ran out last month