Retailer undercuts rivals with below-cost fruit and veg offers

Eurospar has slashed fruit and vegetable prices to as little as 9c — just weeks after other major retailers agreed not to sell produce below cost.

At the start of the month, Aldi, Lidl, Tesco, and the Musgrave Group pledged not to sell fruit and vegetables at below-cost prices in the run-up to Christmas.

The commitment was made after the selling of fruit and vegetables for just a few cents per item provoked widespread protests among farmers and representative organisations last year.

While prices are nowhere near what was on offer last year, one retailer has come out of the traps offering some fruit and veg for as little as 9c.

Eurospar is currently offering 750g of onions and 750g of clementines for 9c, while you can also pick up a melon and pineapple for the same price. For items like 400g of baby potatoes, 500g of brussels sprouts, and 750g of carrots, the retailer is in line with much of the rest of the market at 39c.

SuperValu is offering a two for one ‘mix and match’ deal on a range of fruit and veg at €1.

Tesco is offering the usual staple of Christmas vegetables at prices anywhere from 19c for 500g of onions to 69c for 1kg of white potatoes, 750g of brussels sprouts, and 1.5kg of carrots.

Similarly, Aldi has cut its vegetable offerings but nowhere near the levels of last year, with its range available from between 49c and 70c, while Dunnes Stores’ range all comes in at 49c.

Checkout magazine editor Stephen Wynne-Jones said he didn’t feel the Eurospar offer would spark a vegetable price war.

“Last year really set all sorts of precedents for cut-price offerings and I don’t think the supermarkets anticipated the reaction and the protests. The reaction was pretty incendiary and, given the commitment made to the Oireachtas at the start of the month, I would be surprised if any of them will move on that and go anywhere near as low as last year,” he said.

Dermott Jewell of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland said consumers would always welcome a bargain but were aware of the issue of below-cost selling.

“Clearly below-cost selling is used to get footfall through the doors to buy other products and there is an acknowledged downside in terms of the impact to those on the grower side,” he said.

“From a strictly consumer point of view, consumers love a bargain but they are not unaware of the reality of what’s going on in the background.”

IFA vegetable committee chairman Matt Foley said he was “disappointed” at reports of low-cost selling, stating it set a “dangerous precedent, undermines growers, and sends a misleading message to consumers regarding the inherent value of essential and healthy food”.

A spokesperson for the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission said retailers need to be clear and transparent about the impact of price reductions so consumers can make a fully informed choice.