Below is a list of recent news and media coverage. For older items, see News archive.
The Grocer: 02/05/2018
As suppliers face Sainsbury’s-Asda squeeze, who can help them?
Adjudicator Christine Tacon said today that size did not matter when it came to the prospect of her protecting suppliers from a combined Sainsbury’s and Asda behemoth.
“Size makes no difference to my ability to regulate them,” Tacon told members of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee when asked by chairman Neil Parish what she planned to do to stop the companies “stitching up” their supplier base.…
The Grocer: 30/04/2018
How scared should suppliers be about the Sainsbury’s-Asda merger?
Sainsbury’s doesn’t much like its suppliers. Harsh, perhaps. But it’s got form, going back years, particularly on the branded side, where it’s regularly gone out of its way to drive customers towards own-label lines, through ad campaigns, till vouchers and other mechanics.…
The Independent: 30/04/2018
The Sainsbury’s-Asda merger goes to the heart of what we can expect from post-Brexit Britain
The business world seems to have been taken aback by the revelation of plans for a merger between Sainsbury’s and Asda, despite the proposal being seemingly well-advanced.…
NAMNEWS: 23/04/2018
Tesco Working To Ensure Booker Is GSCOP Compliant
Tesco is urgently working with buyers at Booker to ensure its newly enlarged business is compliant with GSCOP rules.
With the Code currently only covering the top 10 supermarkets in the UK, Booker’s activities have not previously been covered by the Adjudicator, Christine Tacon. However, having worked hard to improve its dealings with suppliers since the 2014 accounting scandal, Tesco is reported to have called for a “culture change” amongst buyers in the Booker operation.…
The Grocer: 18/04/2018
Morrisons Boost Supplier Transparency with Online Portal
Morrisons has announced the launch of a new online supplier portal it claims will boost transparency and long-term relationships with its supplier base. The retailer said the move was a response to concerns from suppliers and followed other moves to simplify trading relationships in its supply chain.The free portal would include all commercial agreements stored in one, secure place, visible to both suppliers and Morrisons at the same time, it said.
Financial Times: 12/04/2018
EU eyes crackdown on unfair practices by powerful food buyers
Brussels is proposing a crackdown on powerful food buyers that force predatory terms on small suppliers, in a move to protect producers that has alarmed some large European retailers.
Phil Hogan, EU agriculture commissioner, will on Thursday unveil a package of reforms to ban “unfair” contract terms and empower national authorities to police the conduct of big buyers such as supermarkets and food production companies.
The proposal would set minimum standards so member states can take action “to protect the more vulnerable [suppliers] in the food chain,” said Mr Hogan in an interview with the Financial Times.…
The Grocer: 19/2/2018
Taking Tacon down the farm was never going to wash
It’s no wonder farming groups are disappointed by the government’s decision not to extend the powers of the Groceries Code Adjudicator, Christine Tacon, to cover primary producers.
Going back now at least three years, they have been strung along by successive governments into holding out hope that the Adjudicator might be ordered to descend like an avenging angel to stop them being bullied by the big, bad supermarkets.…
The Grocer: 27/11/2017
Time for a new approach to food assurance
Does anyone remember the Efra Committee episode where Neil Parish et al tried to get Groceries Code Adjudicator Christine Tacon to answer questions on farmgate prices, despite the fact her role doesn’t have anything to do with meat and dairy farmers, or pricing?…