Pick n Pay sick of food price claims
Jun 22 2009
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Pick n Pay chairman Raymond Ackerman said he was sick and tired of the criticism leveled against supermarkets by the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) and pointed to the group's shrinking profit margins to prove it had not been involved in any collusion to push up prices.

A report by the NAMC recently indicated a gap between producer and shelf prices, but after the Pick n Pay group's annual meeting recently, Ackerman said: "When the food prices were high because farmers were paying higher import parity prices, we didn't complain at all." Ackerman said the group had never sat "to collude with other supermarkets to fix prices. We just fight it out in the market place."

The group's "deliberate" policy to keep prices low affected its margins for the year to February, but the group remained determined to negotiate with suppliers over cost increases.

While Pick n Pay would be "fighting like mad" to keep prices as low as possible, it said, it would continue to invest in the Longmeadow distribution centre, of which the first phase is now complete. The group is also continuing its conversion of Score stores to black-owned Pick n Pay family franchise stores, with the transferring of nearly R1 billion of assets into the hands of black entrepreneurs. Pick n Pay's long-term strategy, to expand its footprint among households in Living Standards Measures 4 to 7, is being realised through its Score conversion project.

Ackerman said he would continue to advocate the deregulation of petrol prices.

"The deregulation should take place in two phases: put a ceiling price on petrol and then work on a long-term deregulation plan." He said he believed there were some "good signs that the economy is turning".

Pick n Pay closed 2 percent up at R33.67 on Monday.

Source: www.busrep.co.za, 17 June 2009