NSA’S fears over merger plans

Farming leaders reacted with concern to claims by the head of Sainsbury’s supermarket that the planned link up between his company and that of another retail giant, Asda, could lower prices by “around 10 per cent on many of the products customers buy regularly”.

The claim of lower food prices angered the National Sheep Association (NSA). While the com- ments by Sainsbury’s chief executive Mike Coupe did not specifically mention lamb, the overall message of retailers expecting more product and quality for less money from its food suppliers meant the squeeze in the food supply chain would get tighter.

NSA chief executive Phil Stocker reckoned the loss of competition in the marketplace, and the increased imbalance in the supply chain, was not in the long-term interests of food producers, nor of society at large.

“It may result in reduced prices, but all this will lead to is less realisation of the value of food and a host of things being lost that may be invisible today but will become very visible at some stage in the future.

“If we end up putting pressure on the bulk of our sheepfarmingfamiliesand businesses we will end up with a very different countryside and rural community – and the danger is that it won’t be noticed until it is lost.”