Price Fixing Dairy Products
The big supermarkets are being investigated following claims of price-fixing on dairy products.
It is alleged that supermarkets are conspiring to keep the price of dairy products – milk, cheese, yoghurts, etc. – artificially high.
Whether I agree with them or not depends on one thing – who is benefiting from the inflated prices? Supermarkets have been criticised continually for the past few years for paying less than cost price for milk from dairy farmers. If keeping the price of dairy products artificially high means farmers are getting more for their milk then surely that’s what people have been asking for? The supermarkets aren’t going to cut into their profits if they can avoid it – they exist to make as much profit as possible for their shareholders, not to provide a public service. All this guff about corporate responsibility is bollocks.
Of course, if farmers aren’t seeing any of the extra money then that’s another matter entirely and the supermarkets are bang out of order. Legally they’re wrong regardless of their motives because they’re operating a price-fixing cartel and that’s illegal.
Is this a case of being caught between a rock and a hard place?
This entry was posted
by wonkotsane on Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 at 11:12 am and is filed under General and is .
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Obviously corporate social responsibilty (to give it its full and frankly ridiculous title) is balls.
But the government is in the pay of the monopolies, so won’t touch them.
I bet that inquiry will go the way of the one into BAE!
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:05 pmUnfortunately, no, apparently the farmers weren’t seeing any of the cash.
September 24th, 2007 at 8:42 am