Supermarkets don't rip off customers with huge mark-ups on fruit and vegetables, the Food and Grocery Council says.The Green Party wants an investigation and says fruit and vegetable growers face ruin because two giant supermarket chains are using their p
Supermarkets don't rip off customers with huge mark-ups on fruit and vegetables, the Food and Grocery Council says.
The Green Party wants an investigation and says fruit and vegetable growers face ruin because two giant supermarket chains are using their powerful position to put the industry at risk.
MP Sue Kedgley said yesterday a survey of 75 fruit and vegetable growers found supermarkets marking produce up by up to 500 percent, while growers were being forced to sell for less than it cost them to grow it.
But Food and Grocery Council chief executive Katherine Rich said today that wasn't happening.
"I don't think supermarkets are ripping anybody off," she said on TV One's Breakfast programme.
"While supermarkets would love a mark-up of 500 percent, it just doesn't exist in reality."
Ms Rich said it wasn't fair to compare the prices growers received with the prices people paid in supermarkets.
"There are a lot of costs that are incurred throughout the supply chain," she said.
"A lot of goods get thrown away."
Ms Rich said the council was interested in the Green Party's call for a code of conduct for supermarkets.
A code had been operating in Britain since February and if it improved retailer-supplier relationships it could be considered for New Zealand, she said.
Ms Kedgley said her survey found only 15 percent of growers reported that their businesses ran at a profit, 87 percent were forced at times to sell their produce at less than it cost to grow, and 75 percent thought supermarket mark-ups on fresh produce were too high.
