Farmers have the business hampered when white brands come into play, which make them competition. Jerónimo Martins denies harming business: is “one of the largest buyers of food foods to Portuguese suppliers”.
A bad year agricultural year placed Vale da Rosa, a grape producer without Grainha, in a special process of revitalization (PER), in an attempt to renegotiate the payment of their debts with suppliers, says a.
“Our largest client closed us the door to the mouth of the campaign,” businessman António Silvestre Ferreira told. “We are suffering a lot from this, because we were not prepared.” Refers to Sweet Pingo, of the Jerónimo Martins group.
Jerónimo Martins responded to the comment, ensuring that Orders Reduction And their choice to produce their own “white brand” did not lead Vale da Rosa to the financial situation they face, being the statement of Silvestre Ferreira “totally false and skewed”.
However, this is just One of the many cases felt by the producers of the food industry, in view of the foray of Jerónimo Martins in this industry.
Luísa Almeidafounder of the Quinta do Arneiro Biological Agriculture Project, on Instagram: “will be the Farmers ‘eaten’ by the great distribution What, with a millionaire capital, begins to ‘lying away’ those who so far were their suppliers, spending direct competition? If it’s cool? Of course. If it is ethical? No”.
“In the environment where I live, the biological, I have suppliers that close because they can’t stand the pressure. It turns out to be a burned land policy. For us who are here, it’s very scary, ”says the businesswoman to CNN.
Firmino CordeiroDirector-General of the Portuguese Farmers Association (AJAP), confirms: There is no organization of producers who can resist the pressure that is done in prices. Always run over who gets on the way. We don’t agree, but can we do something? Very little, because we don’t have many ways to sell and market our products. ”
“As much as they are friends with production, they are only friends of their own business. There is a lot of exploitation that can suffer if this becomes fashionable. What they produce, stop buying national production, ”he laments.
And the problem has been extending for some time. The logic is simple: large scale production allows more competitive prices. The solution is no longer that simple.
There are some, and “the cities so recover markets and try For small products. It is a more modern way to recover tradition. ” Creating an identity is essential.
“We were too permissive, we have not created legislation that has greater control, which allows us to coexist. Only the big ones coexist, ”laments the president of Ajap.
“We are in an age when the intermediary makes money. After crushing the producers in a war that is old, the margins grew. If the farmer does not have the chance to create a mark and add to added value To its products, it is at the mercy of distribution, ”says Firmino Cordeiro.
However, an official source of Pingo Doce gives another perspective: “The companies of the Jerónimo Martins group, as a whole, They are one of the largest buyers from food products to Portuguese suppliers. In one year, we bought about four billion euros of these products. ”
It gives some examples: “annually 100 million liters of milk from more than 20 producers throughout the continental territory”, and purchases “more than 10,000 animals to more than 50 national producers per year”.
“Our agrifice production activity is being developed in lands that, almost all, were previously abandoned, exposed to high risk of fire and without any contribution to dynamization job creation in local regions and economies, ”writes the group.
