Price fixing on sugar at Tesco and Asda?

andrewmp

moonrakerz wrote: »

Supermarkets already import milk !
Last year it was reported by the BBC that the UK was importing a million litres of fresh milk a day from Holland & Belgium alone !
They will buy it where ever it is cheapest, if that is Poland, Bulgaria or North Korea, they DO NOT CARE. If they can get it to their store cheaper than they can get it from farmer Jones down the road - they will.
Fresh milk keeps better than fresh fruit/veg, that comes from all over the globe.

When all the UK milk producers have been driven out of business and living standards/costs in Poland, Bulgaria or North Korea have risen dramatically - so will the price of YOUR milk.

Hardly a suprise it is!! If milk has to go up then fair enough, don't see any reason why the tax payer should susidise dairy farms though.

mambury

andrewmp wrote: »

Hardly a suprise it is!! If milk has to go up then fair enough, don't see any reason why the tax payer should susidise dairy farms though.

TROLL...... or at the very least a sadly misinformed consumer!

andrewmp

mambury wrote: »

TROLL...... or at the very least a sadly misinformed consumer!

Not trolling, it's a money saving site and spending taxes on farmers isn't my idea of money saving, especially during a recession.

Mistymaid

I don't think you're trolling, but I don't think you're that well informed either.

For starters, you aren't subsidising the farmer, you are subsidising your own food.
Without the government giving the farmer a subsidy to produce the milk, he would go bust - therefore no more UK milk. The other alternative is of course for the UK consumer to actually pay the price it costs to produce and believe me that would be a lot more than you are paying now.

The alternative, which is what a lot of corporations want, is to import milk as has been mentioned previously. It's cheaper for many other countries to produce it due to lower living standards (wages) lower production standards etc. Also many countries now are introducing more hormones into dairy production that makes the cows produce more milk. Whether you want to consume these things may be a moot point.
Also, as somebody else has said, the pound is now stronger so prices are cheaper, but try taking this a step into the future. The pound falls, oil (transportation costs) go sky high - the price of milk rockets. Unfortunately by this time if most of our own farmers have gone bust then we will have no alternative other than to ship in from abroad - another reason other countries will have to put prices up still further.

When people mention farming subsidies I think they should really be thinking of them in terms of food subsidies - that way it makes a lot more sense.

andrewmp

Mistymaid wrote: »

I don't think you're trolling, but I don't think you're that well informed either.

For starters, you aren't subsidising the farmer, you are subsidising your own food.
Without the government giving the farmer a subsidy to produce the milk, he would go bust - therefore no more UK milk. The other alternative is of course for the UK consumer to actually pay the price it costs to produce and believe me that would be a lot more than you are paying now.

The alternative, which is what a lot of corporations want, is to import milk as has been mentioned previously. It's cheaper for many other countries to produce it due to lower living standards (wages) lower production standards etc. Also many countries now are introducing more hormones into dairy production that makes the cows produce more milk. Whether you want to consume these things may be a moot point.
Also, as somebody else has said, the pound is now stronger so prices are cheaper, but try taking this a step into the future. The pound falls, oil (transportation costs) go sky high - the price of milk rockets. Unfortunately by this time if most of our own farmers have gone bust then we will have no alternative other than to ship in from abroad - another reason other countries will have to put prices up still further.

When people mention farming subsidies I think they should really be thinking of them in terms of food subsidies - that way it makes a lot more sense.

I thought the pound was quite weak at the moment though.

You do make some interesting points though although I would rather milk just go to it's natural price, I'm lucky if I drink a pint a week anyway.

Lola23

Bellroyd wrote: »

I surely cannot be the only one who has noticed that both Tesco and Asda, each of whom makes a big song and dance about being cheaper than the other seem to have fixed their sugar price at 93p from memory, yet there is an increasing number of other outlets to include some of the smaller chains (not always previously associated with stocking such an item) where the price of sugar for the same branded products is invariably as low as 69p for the standard 1kg bag. Surely this is extremely disingenuous behaviour from the big boys who are luring shoppers to their tills with their rather shady marketing ploys and then ripping them off on items which almost every shopper buys every week.

I for one never buy sugar from either store - they should be exposed for such shameful price-fixing.

While I'm at it, it's the same story with milk. Up to £1.60 in the majors - a pound or less in many much smaller outlets - It all tastes the same on MY corn flakes. Downright rip-off if you ask me!

I've been getting my sugar from Farmfoods lately...79p.

Noticed it's a bit dearer in supermarkets and refuse to pay when it's nearer £1.

Lola

a11waysindebt

MrsBartolozzi wrote: »

Poundland have 1.5 kg bags of sugar for £1.This works out at 67p per Kg, much cheaper than the supermarkets.

I also notice they have 2 litres of milk on sale aswell.....£1.00:D

mambury

andrewmp wrote: »

Not trolling, it's a money saving site and spending taxes on farmers isn't my idea of money saving, especially during a recession.

I personally am apalled that we have to subsidise the banking sector and I can't see that we are getting much out of that!

Yes it is a money saving site, but money saving means different things to different people.

I struggle with the ethics of buying imported food when we can and should be providing this for ourselves. If we lose our agriculture in the UK then we are up !!!!!! creek without a paddle. As Mistymaid said, in the future when oil reserves are low (pretty close to it now!) and the price of oil rockets, then imports will become more and more expensive. If we rely on imported food and lose our ability to feed ourselves we are beholden to other nations to supply our food. Then you really will need to look at how much you spend on a pint of milk.

I apologise for suggesting that you were trolling.

PLease educate yourself as to where your food comes from. It will pay you back in the long term.

Mistymaid

The pound isn't doing too bad at the moment Andrew and certainly a lot better compared to this time last year, although of course it's also being devalued by the extra money being printed.

You also have to bear in mind that if we lose UK milk we also lose all the associated dairy products and the same rules apply to importing those as to milk.

It's also worth noting that most developed countries support their own food production financially - it would be a stupid government that left its people to the mercy of other countries when it comes to putting food in their stomachs - but for some reason in this country a lot of the population seem to think that is a sensible move.

(PS) I've got my own goat!

a11waysindebt

The UK is unable to get letters posted properly never mind supplying its own food. Peoples diets have changed over the years and we expect products to be in our shops when we want them.

It amazes me how something can be flown half way around the world and still be cheaper than a locally sourced item.