Norwegian strawberries have increased by NOK 10 per basket in one year. Last year, 500 grams of strawberries cost 39.90. Now the price is 49.90 at the discount chains. This causes strawberry farmer Eilev Mellerud to react.
– Only Bama decides the prices. We don’t have a market that works, and the scheme Bama runs is hopeless. The farmers suffer for that, he says after he cut Bama out several years ago.
Bama is Norway’s largest fruit and vegetable wholesaler. Together with Coop, they buy 70 to 90 percent of all strawberries produced.
Bama is mainly owned by Rema 1000 and Norgesgruppen. The latter is Norway’s largest grocery player, with a market share of 44 per cent.
Afraid of burning inside with strawberries
Last week, farmers received NOK 35 for 500 grams of berries, while the price in the corresponding week last year was NOK 33.5. A price increase of 1.50 øre. Corresponding four percent price increase.
In the same period, costs for strawberry farmers have increased by up to 30 per cent, according to strawberry farmers Nettavisen has spoken to.
This means that the real wages of strawberry farmers this year are considerably lower than last year – and that without including inflation in the calculation.
– We do not have the power to decide what the shops will charge for the item. It is a difficult balancing act. If we set up the strawberry basket with a few kroner, we risk that the grocery stores set up far more. Then we may end up not being able to sell the volume we have, says Morten Andersen, general manager of the Green Producers’ Cooperation Council (GPS).
Nettavisen has also spoken to other strawberry farmers who say they always fear burning inside with berries. Because strawberries are fresh produce. Here, it’s all about getting sold as soon as the berries glisten red.
Andersen emphasizes that they cannot take whatever they want for the strawberries.
– Bama, Coop and other wholesalers can import strawberries if they want, he says.
Facts about Bama
Bama is Norway’s largest player in fruit and vegetables, and supplies vegetables and fruit to, among others, Rema 1000, Kiwi, Meny, Spar, Bunnpris and Joker. The main owners of the company are Norgesgruppen and Rema 1000, Norgesgruppen owns Kiwi, Meny, Spar and Joker.
The association collaborates on joint price recommendations and market adaptation for, among other things, strawberry farmers. For strawberries, a common standard price is given every day. This price determines what the farmer should receive for the berries.
Bama states that they do not have the opportunity to share how much they earn on a basket of strawberries or how high the mark-up is before it is sold in the shops.
Read their response further down in the case.
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Farmer predicts strawberry price of DKK 80 a basket
– Accepts the price Bama gives
The development means that strawberry farmer Mellerud fears Norwegian strawberry farmers are a dying species.
– Now we have gone from production of 25,000 to 10,000 decares in Norway. Soon we won’t have strawberries left in Norway, because there is no market for this, he says and continues:
– The problem is that strawberries are a fresh product and you cannot find new sales channels when you are standing there with fresh berries. Then you have to settle for the price Bama will give.
He believes that if you compare the conditions today with what they were 15–20 years ago, the difference is enormous.
– Then we earned twice as much. You could have a good annual salary for farming 40 acres of strawberries. Now you have to have 200.
– Who earns more when the price of strawberries in the shop goes up?
– Bama and the grocery chains – it’s completely obvious, he claims.
Enticing customers with strawberries
Mellerud believes that strawberry farmers have for a long time had to pay the price for strawberries to be an attractive offer in grocery stores.
Tom Christensen, strawberry farmer and coordinator at Gartnerhallen in Tønsberg, agrees.
– The price of strawberries in shops has been artificially low for several years. It affects manufacturers when the chains compete the way they do.
Like Mellerud, Christensen emphasizes that the costs for strawberry farmers have skyrocketed since last year. He says that for most the costs will have increased by up to 30 per cent.
– Why hasn’t the price the farmer gets increased more?
– We can set the price higher, but then we also have to accept the consequences if demand is reduced. There is an inherent fear of that happening.
– Has it ever happened?
– No, but the fear is there.
– Do you feel that you are being taken advantage of by the wholesaler?
– Both yes and no. Sometimes you can feel it a little, but strawberries also mean a lot to the wholesaler and the store.
When asked why the shop price of strawberries has risen by ten kroner, while the farmer has only received kroner 1.5 more, Christensen replies that there is rarely a direct connection between the price to the farmer and the retail price in the shop.
– It depends on campaigns and how shops want to profile themselves. They have often had lower advances on strawberries, he claims.
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Now the price of strawberries is being dumped: – The longest season ever
Strawberry farmer does not sell to Bama
Back at Mellerud, he says that he stopped selling to Bama a few years ago. Now he sells everything privately on the farm. He believes more and more farmers will rethink distribution channels.
– We have increased sales tenfold in five years. We sell a lot of strawberries and people want to pay for good quality.
also read
Bama takes strawberry grip
Bama: – We do not recognize ourselves in the criticism
Bama rejects the criticism.
– Mellerud believes that it is you who profit from the fact that the price of the berries has gone up. Are you earning more from strawberries now than at the same time last year?
– When it comes to Bama’s profit on strawberries, it reflects that the most important thing for us is to offer consumers Norwegian strawberries at a price they can pay, says Anne Victoria Frogner, communications advisor at Bama Gruppen.
She says they do not recognize themselves in the criticism from Mellerud.
– We do not recognize ourselves in the production. It is the Green Producers’ Cooperation Council (GPS) that recommends the strawberry price to producers from day to day, and the grocery chains decide the price in store, says Frogner.
– Mellerud do you think you are pushing farmers’ prices and that this means that the strawberry farmers will eventually wind up their business? Do you guys do that? What do you think of the criticism?
– The settlement price is set in collaboration with the strawberry producers in GPS every week, she says.
– You do not answer what we ask.
– I have answered your questions. It is not right that we should answer for settlement prices to a producer who has not delivered to us for several years, says Frogner.
– We earn nothing from Norwegian strawberries
Kiwi owner Norgesgruppen claims that the grocery chain makes no profit from Norwegian strawberries. They haven’t done that for many years either, says Norgesgruppen’s executive vice president for communications and public relations, Stein Rømmerud.
– There is tough price competition for strawberries. But we are in the same situation as the producers – they should have earned more, and we earn nothing, he says.
– Do you understand that it is a challenging situation for the strawberry farmers?
– The situation is difficult for everyone in the value chain. It is a product that is under heavy pressure due to the competitive situation.
– But aren’t you the ones who set the premise for the competition?
– It is the result of many factors. Strawberries are a price-sensitive product, and a product group where consumers are price conscious, he says.
– You can sell thousands of other products, while a strawberry farmer is very dependent on the income from strawberry sales. You don’t mean that he is left with black pepper?
– This situation is demanding for the entire value chain, but I fully understand that the producers find it demanding.
Rømmerud refers to Norgesgruppen’s initiative “Strawberry Lift”, with the aim of increasing the volume of Norwegian strawberries by 50 per cent from 2021 to 2025.
– Increased volume means that both manufacturers and we can get economies of scale, he says, and adds that already in 2022 we were halfway to reaching the target.
2023-07-29 05:38:53
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