New EU rules will see greater price transparency on different cuts of beef, sheepmeat and pigmeat in the supply chain.

The new rules will come into effect on 1 January 2021. It is hoped that the rules will shine a light on the middle part of the food chain, for example when beef cuts move from the factory to the retailer and at what price.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands that the new rules will include a broader selection of products, such as organics, and all prices will be shown on a portal.

Puzzle

It is the “latest piece in the puzzle” of European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan’s aim for more fairness in the food supply chain.

According to the European Commission, this will allow for greater transparency and will improve the understanding of price formation and the development of trends along the food chain.

Commissioner Hogan said increasing market transparency is about providing more information, on more products, more often.

We will give greater balance to the chain and ensure more efficient decision-making

“By doing so, we will give greater balance to the chain and ensure more efficient decision-making. Increasing transparency is also about fairness: we are allowing equal access to price information which will bring greater clarity on how the food supply chain functions.

“Supplemented by the recently adopted directive banning unfair trading practices, as well as to the 2017 improvements to producer organisation legislation, these rules will strengthen the role of farmers in the food supply chain, a key objective for the Commission,” he said.

More information

The Commission has said that while a significant amount of information is already available regarding agricultural markets (including production and consumer prices, volumes of production and trade, etc), there is little information available on markets that operate between farmers and consumers such as food processing or retailing.

“This creates an asymmetry of information between farmers and other actors of the food supply chain and can put farmers at a significant disadvantage when doing business with others.

“The measures agreed will apply to the meat, dairy, wine, cereals, oilseeds and protein crops, fruit and vegetables, olive oil and sugar sectors. The collection of data will rely on systems and procedures already in place, used by operators and member states to report market information to the Commission,” it said.

Each member state will be responsible for the collection of price and market data and representative prices will be reported in order to achieve cost-effectiveness and to limit the administrative burden.

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