Supermarket retailers have been accused of grossly overcharging consumers while underpaying farmers after the results of a recent survey was made public this week.

According to the Fine Gael survey shoppers now pay €33.77 on average for a basket of basic foodstuffs of beef, milk, eggs and a range of vegetables, an average mark-up of 133%, while farmer receives just €14.55 for those products.

Fine Gael's Spokesperson for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Michael Creed TD, slammed supermarkets in the wake of the findings. "The highest mark-up is on mushrooms which retail at an average of €4.71 per kilo while the farmer gets just €1.35, a mark-up of 249% from the farm gate to supermarket shelf. A kilo of beef is marked up by 220%. A dozen of eggs is costing the public €3.88, a mark-up of almost 104% on the farmer's price of €1.90.

"This basket of food mainly includes products which require little or no processing, yet between the farmer and the shopper, the products are being marked up by almost 135% on average. The July survey shows Tesco claiming the highest overall mark-up of 147% on the whole basket of goods. The retailer with the next highest overall mark-up was Superquinn, at 126%, followed by Dunnes at 122%.

"Shoppers need to know why they are not getting a better deal and farmers deserve to know why they are not getting a fair price. Retailers, distributors and processors must come clean and explain how they can justify such mark-ups on basic food products. Fine Gael believes that a balance can be struck between the interests of farmers and shoppers, and the wider business community," he concluded.

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