The National Chamber of Commerce (NAK) has initiated an administrative and ethical procedure against Tesco because the retailer is selling watermelons for 99 HUF per kilo (about 0.32 Euro) from Thursday to Sunday, instead of the previous 249 HUF (about 0.81 Euro). A complaint was filed to the National Food Chain Safety Office claiming unfair distributor behaviour, discriminatory pricing and abuse of dominant position. The Chamber is also examining if the action contravenes its Business Ethics Code.
According to NAK's statement, it is likely that watermelon growers will again be protesting against these price cuts in front of the retailer's stores, as they already did in previous years.
The Fruit and Vegetable Interprofessional Organization and Product Council (FruitVeB) has joined the Chamber in this action. This year, thanks to the favourable weather conditions, there are prospects to reach 200-220 thousand tonnes of high quality watermelons, but Mr Ledó Ferenc, president of the organization, affirmed that the low prices paid are endangering the survival of the producers. At present, the production cost of watermelons grown with drip irrigation is 60-70 HUF per kilo (about 0.19-0.23 Euro), while watermelons produced in the traditional way can appear on the market after mid-July, and by then, the cost may be reduced to an average of 35 HUF (about 0.11 Euro). Producers who are not investing in state-of-the-art technologies can end up becoming uncompetitive because of the extreme weather caused by climate change.
"In order to achieve better prices, similar to those paid to Italian and Spanish producers, Hungarian growers should also aim to create co-operatives, as that would put them in a much better position to negotiate with traders," stated Magda Sándor, PhD in Agricultural Sciences, who has also worked in watermelon cultivation.
Source: nepszava.hu
