Why are suppliers allowed organise a protest outside Lidl?

Not really sure what the farmers think they are trying to achieve here.

If you buy the same chicken in Dunnes in a €50 shop it'll work out the same price. They never picket them. Strange that.

LIDL is the one bearing the cost of the promotion not the suppliers.

How is this anything to do with LIDL, who operate across Europe:

"The EU average price for eggs has increased by 13.2% in the past year... However, Ireland is one of only two member states where the price has actually decreased in the past 12 months with a drop of 8.4% in Irish egg prices."
 
Whether you think their methods are useful or not, is there some suggestion here that they should not be allowed to protest?
 
If insurance companies got together and agreed to raise prices, the executives involved would go to jail.

When the Restaurants Association of Ireland advised its members that they should demand deposits for Xmas parties and hold onto them if the party did not show, the CCPC issued them a warning.

So why does competition law not apply to farmers? They are businesses. How come they are allowed to cooperate to raise prices for the consumer?

Are they exempt?

Brendan
 

CCPC examines potential anti-competitive conduct by the Restaurants Association of Ireland​

NOVEMBER 29, 2018

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has commenced a civil competition law investigation into the conduct of the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI). The investigation follows several months of engagement with the RAI, during which time the association failed to address concerns identified by the CCPC.

Competition law requires businesses to be free to independently make their own commercial decisions, based on their business needs and circumstances. In January 2018, the CCPC became aware of public statements made by the RAI, stating that the association had written to its members and recommended the introduction of booking policies, including obtaining non-refundable deposits from customers to counteract ‘no show’ bookings, and suggesting a deposit amount that should be sought from customers.

Under competition law, a trade association must not attempt to co-ordinate the conduct of its members, for example, by advising, recommending or suggesting to its members the terms and conditions under which a service should be provided, or the price that should be charged.

The CCPC’s role is to ensure that businesses have the freedom to set their own terms, and we engaged with the RAI to make them aware of their obligations under competition law. The nature of this engagement was to bring about compliance, however, the association has failed, to date, to address these concerns. The investigation is ongoing.
 
What about the fact that many staple household products are identically priced in the major stores? Isn't that also evidence of cartel like behaviour? Tesco even have a high profile advertising campaign at the moment making a virtue of the fact that they've matched Aldi prices on many product lines.
 
Tesco reduced their prices to match what was already in store in ALDI (an existing competitor). That's competition.
Unless you evidence of co-ordination between Tesco and ALDI I see zero grounds for claiming they are acting as a cartel or how this activity improves both their profits.
 
Hi Brendan

I think the difference here is that the farm organisations are powerless to dictate prices.

I think their campaign is ridiculous - occasional price promotions are a brilliant way to market a product to consumers who wouldn't normally buy.
 
Lidl says they "bear the cost of promotional specials"- is that below cost selling which I thought was illegal?
 
The farmers have come to together as a group to accept a price that they don't think is fair. They then protest at the premises of the other party to highlight the unfairness of the agreement they entered into.

I think they're doing more to lower consumer prices than the CCPC could ever hope to achieve.
 
Salvadore said:
I think they're doing more to lower consumer prices than the CCPC could ever hope to achieve.
Click to expand...
They may be doing more than the CCPC but, at least in this case, they're protesting at the prices being too low in their view!
 
Brendan Burgess said:
So why does competition law not apply to farmers? They are businesses. How come they are allowed to cooperate to raise prices for the consumer?
Click to expand...
In 2015 the CCPC warned doctors from colluding on contracts and prices. I don't see how farmers are any different here.

It would be different if all the farmers all came together to maybe form a business to purchase their produce at agree prices and quantities, and then sell it on to third parties. You could all it something like a "co-op" or the like. Has this ever been tried?
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
In 2015 the CCPC warned doctors from colluding on contracts and prices. I don't see how farmers are any different here.
Click to expand...
There is no credible suggestion of collusion here. Essentially a handful of farmers in a particular area have apparently picketed a few stores of a retail chain, because they disagree with an aspect of the chain's retail pricing policy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register