Plans by St Merryn Foods to increase charges for processing beef and lamb have left beef livestock producers bitterly disappointed, says the NFU.
The food processor announced last week that they would be increasing their charges for processing beef and lamb as of Monday (April 27) citing the recent and dramatic increase in waste disposal and rendering charges, particularly Specified Risk Material (SRM) as the reason.
Charges will increase to £19.20 for processing a beef animal and to £1.95 for a lamb. St Merryn claim they have held back on implementing these increased charges for as long as they could but challenging trading conditions mean that they must recover some of the increased costs levied on their businesses.
Charles Sercombe, NFU livestock board chairman, said beef producers will be bitterly disappointed as this cost is outside of their control and comes on the back of 11 consecutive weeks of falling beef prices as a result of lacklustre consumer demand and the challenge from imported product, made more competitive by the weak euro.
“Farmers will be extremely frustrated that just a few months after the NFU and the BMPA launched the processor code of practice, we have a signatory to the code making changes to their terms and conditions without providing their producer suppliers with the 12 weeks’ notice they had promised,” said Mr Sercombe.
“We understand that St Merryn held off increasing their charges when others had already increased theirs some months ago. We assume that the renderers would be talking to processors highlighting the pressures on animal by-product markets, if so these challenges should have been communicated to farmers; ideally within the 12 week window. This lack of transparency is totally against the letter and spirit of the processor code, and is the last thing we need when we are trying to build trust and greater transparency within the beef supply chain – which is yet again facing pressure on farm gate prices. We ask the renderers and retailers to work within the spirit of the code and communicate changes to their terms and conditions to suppliers in good time”
“With Co-op, Morrison’s, Waitrose, Budgens, Aldi and Lidl all sourcing 100 per cent British, and of the remaining retailers Sainsbury’s and Tesco sourcing 92 and 81 percent, only Asda seem to be at the bottom of the class, at just 66 per cent of facings. This independent data is from January, and while retailers who source 100 per cent British are generally committed as such, others are less clear with their sourcing commitments.
“Retailer demand is one of the key drivers of the current decline in price – ironically better cattle are suffering more than cow beef at the moment. It is great to see the breadth of support from retailers on beef, and important to hold others to account, but for the whole industry the question must be how to drive demand without devaluing the product.”
