From Jim Hopley, chief executive of the Co-op.
IT is not often that I feel inclined to write to the media but I simply cannot allow the lead article in the JEP on Monday 7 July 2008 to go unchallenged.
To draw the conclusions your newspaper did from such a limited piece of work done by the Consumer Council and a few ‘throw-away’ comments by its chairman, Deputy Alan Breckon, is poor journalism of the highest order and is not something I have come to expect from what is normally a balanced element of the media.
The Consumer Council’s ‘price survey’ covered a mere 15 items, six of which were produce lines, and was by its own admission not a representative or comprehensive basket, from which any meaningful conclusions could be drawn.
Indeed, to quote the Council’s ‘flyer’, ‘the majority of goods were not put up by any more than three per cent except in the fruit and vegetable section, where there will always be seasonal adjustments’.
I cannot speak for other food retailers, but I can categorically assure your readers and our members/customers that our total 18,000 products were adjusted by a precise (rounded up and down) three per cent on the introduction of GST. Witness in our case ten of the 15 items quoted by the Consumer Council Survey show precisely that.
Of the other five items, one (Flora Margarine) was subject to a price rise in late April to £1.28 and was further adjusted to £1.32 (+3.1 per cent adjusted) on 6 May.
The other four items were what the Council described as seasonal fruit and vegetables price adjustments and have, over a two month (4-6 week) period, been driven up by market forces alone, topped up by GST but certainly not caused solely by the new tax.
To total these 15 lines as the JEP has done and produce an inflation factor for the total food sector of seven per cent over a four-week period is statistical nonsense of the highest order.
I cannot possibly deny that food prices around the world, including the UK – our main supply base, and indeed Jersey, are rising at a rate we have not seen for many years.
This issue is the focus of much attention at this time, including the agenda at the current G8 Summit in Japan. The Island cannot expect to remain immune from these global changes and it is currently my job and that of my team to limit these changes as best we can. Emotive and misleading headlines, like that run by the JEP on Monday, deflect from the real issues and do the newspaper little credit.
In conclusion, I would also ask the JEP to put on record that, despite the often overstated administration problems it might cause, I am personally, as indeed is the organisation that I represent, in total support of Deputy Carolyn Labey’s proposition shortly to be placed before the States to zero rate both food and domestic energy from GST.
The ‘pain is certainly worth the gain’ and should our politicians see sense at this particularly difficult time for hard-pressed consumers, especially the least well off in society, and vote this through then we at CI Co-operative guarantee to reverse our actions of 6 May 2008 and reduce all relevant retail prices by the same (rounded) three per cent. 27 Charing Cross,
St Helier.
It was statistical nonsense
From Jim Hopley, chief executive of the Co-op.
IT is not often that I feel inclined to write to the media but I simply cannot allow the lead article in the JEP on Monday 7 July 2008 to go unchallenged.
To draw the conclusions your newspaper did from such a limited piece of work done by the Consumer Council and a few ‘throw-away’ comments by its chairman, Deputy Alan Breckon, is poor journalism of the highest order and is not something I have come to expect from what is normally a balanced element of the media.
The Consumer Council’s ‘price survey’ covered a mere 15 items, six of which were produce lines, and was by its own admission not a representative or comprehensive basket, from which any meaningful conclusions could be drawn.
Indeed, to quote the Council’s ‘flyer’, ‘the majority of goods were not put up by any more than three per cent except in the fruit and vegetable section, where there will always be seasonal adjustments’.
I cannot speak for other food retailers, but I can categorically assure your readers and our members/customers that our total 18,000 products were adjusted by a precise (rounded up and down) three per cent on the introduction of GST. Witness in our case ten of the 15 items quoted by the Consumer Council Survey show precisely that.
Of the other five items, one (Flora Margarine) was subject to a price rise in late April to £1.28 and was further adjusted to £1.32 (+3.1 per cent adjusted) on 6 May.
The other four items were what the Council described as seasonal fruit and vegetables price adjustments and have, over a two month (4-6 week) period, been driven up by market forces alone, topped up by GST but certainly not caused solely by the new tax.
To total these 15 lines as the JEP has done and produce an inflation factor for the total food sector of seven per cent over a four-week period is statistical nonsense of the highest order.
I cannot possibly deny that food prices around the world, including the UK – our main supply base, and indeed Jersey, are rising at a rate we have not seen for many years.
This issue is the focus of much attention at this time, including the agenda at the current G8 Summit in Japan. The Island cannot expect to remain immune from these global changes and it is currently my job and that of my team to limit these changes as best we can. Emotive and misleading headlines, like that run by the JEP on Monday, deflect from the real issues and do the newspaper little credit.
In conclusion, I would also ask the JEP to put on record that, despite the often overstated administration problems it might cause, I am personally, as indeed is the organisation that I represent, in total support of Deputy Carolyn Labey’s proposition shortly to be placed before the States to zero rate both food and domestic energy from GST.
The ‘pain is certainly worth the gain’ and should our politicians see sense at this particularly difficult time for hard-pressed consumers, especially the least well off in society, and vote this through then we at CI Co-operative guarantee to reverse our actions of 6 May 2008 and reduce all relevant retail prices by the same (rounded) three per cent.
27 Charing Cross,
St Helier.
Article posted on 15th July, 2008 - 2.00pm