Ban on selling below cost price could help Spanish banana producers
In the light of the Spanish government’s current review of its legal prohibition on supermarkets selling agricultural produce below cost price, and banana industry debate around ALDI’s proposed contract price for 2021, Banana Link Policy and Communications Coordinator, Paul Lievens, considers how such a globally wider prohibition might contribute to fairer prices for banana export producers.
The Spanish Government Congress is currently holding hearings in a review of its Food Chain Law (Ley de la Cadena Alimentaria) that it introduced in 2013 with the aim of redressing imbalances in commercial relations between agricultural producers and retailers. In particular, debate is centred around provisions added to the law by Royal Decree in February 2020 that introduced a prohibition on retailers selling agricultural produce at a loss, and required retailers to pay producers a price equal to or greater than the cost