Memorandum submitted by Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer are a specialist food retailer
selling all our products under our own exclusive St Michael brand.
We have 12 stores in Wales directly employing over 2,000 people.
In 1996-97, the food turnover was £99 million. Our Welsh
food suppliers had a combined turnover of £88 million. General
Merchandise and food suppliers to Marks & Spencer employ 1,700
people in Wales working on Marks & Spencer merchandise. In
addition, Marks & Spencer contributed £150,000 to community
projects in Wales in 1996-97.
Marks & Spencer has a long-standing business
philosophy of developing business partnerships with our suppliers.
We share a commitment to providing the highest quality products
to Marks & Spencer customers.
For all foods the aim has to be consistently
high eating quality and food safety. Detailed production specifications,
inspections and regular taste panelling achieve this. This is
especially true for livestock products.
We would like to respond to the issues raised
by the inquiry as following:—
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
CARCASS PRICE
FOR BEEF
AND LAMB
AND THE
ULTIMATE PRICE
CHARGED BY
RETAILERS
Marks & Spencer work with dedicated meat
packers. From these companies, we purchase prepacked fresh meat.
These companies purchase livestock in the marketplace to meet
our procurement needs. Livestock meeting our requirements are
bought from markets and directly from farms. We understand some
producers wish to use both systems of marketing their animals
and do not restrict this choice.
ROLE OF
MARKS & SPENCER
IN THE
MAINTENANCE AND
THE POTENTIAL
AMELIORATION OF
WELSH LIVESTOCK
CRISIS
Lamb
Marks & Spencer recognise the importance
of livestock production to Wales. In 1996, 15,000 lambs were sourced
from Wales for Marks & Spencer, this had risen to 40,000 in
1997 and is projected to rise to 50,000 in 1998. This is labelled
as Welsh lamb in season. Marks & Spencer has doubled the UK
sales of lamb over a five-year period. This reverses the national
trend of declining lamb consumption and is strong support for
our policy of providing the highest eating quality lamb to customers.
Home produced lamb suffers from a decline in
the consistency of eating quality in the winter and, to maintain
supplies of young high quality lamb, New Zealand chilled, not
frozen, lamb is imported. Marks & Spencer has adopted this
policy for 20 years.
This winter market is not restricted to overseas
products and offers an opportunity for Welsh sheep producers to
develop competitive products meeting our customers demand for
eating quality and carcass specification. Regular eating quality
trials are used to assess supplies of lamb. Once the quality of
home produced lamb starts to decline, New Zealand product is stocked.
This year, eating quality trials indicated that British lamb quality
was being maintained. Consequently, limited supplies of high eating
quality Welsh lamb have been secured and this is being offered
to Marks and Spencer customers.
Marks & Spencer encourages the technical
improvement of the sheep sector. In particular, the improvement
of breeds to meet market demands offers great potential. Genetic
improvement is cumulative and cost effective. We sponsor classes
at agricultural shows, including the Royal Welsh, for superior
genetic merit sheep. We hope the industry will utilise the sheep
identified in these classes for the benefit of the individual
breeds and the sheep sector as a whole.
Beef
All fresh beef in British Marks & Spencer
stores is from British farmers. We have maintained a commitment
to our suppliers throughout the recent difficult period. The beef
market has changed. This process of change will continue as the
sector faces the impact of E coli O157:H7 and the continuing
effects of BSE. The consumer has the right to expect safe wholesome
food and the food industry has to adapt to meet this. The farming
sector has a vital part to play as a key link in the food chain.
We know that to achieve the confidence of our customers, we must
work in partnership with the entire food chain, from the farm
to the shelves of our stores.
A key development for Marks & Spencer has
been the Select Farms scheme for beef. This was developed in response
to us encountering beef supplies of variable eating quality. Information
on the individual farming system such as feeding and breed of
animal is allied to extensive taste panel results to provide pointers
to improved eating quality. Through this process Marks & Spencer
has refined a beef specification. We require steers from beef
suckler herds, aged 18-26 months and sired by specific breeds
of bull.
Potential producers are inspected before being
able to supply Select Farms product in Marks & Spencer stores.
The scheme was introduced in 1991 and in combination with improved
meat handling has been very successful in improving the eating
quality of beef. We are committed to further improving the Select
Farm scheme allowing us to introduce improved products to our
customers. The Select Farms scheme was originally introduced in
Scotland and England, but to meet high demand we are currently
seeking producers in Wales willing to meet our requirements and
develop new business opportunities.
Marks & Spencer continues to support improvement
initiatives for the beef industry. We have a stand at all the
major Agricultural Shows, including the Royal Welsh, where we
talk to our producers. Also at these shows we support classes
for improved beef cattle as we do for sheep. The Elite Beefbreeder
Championships, highlight bulls with the combination of high commercial
genetic merit and superior breed characteristics. We encourage
producers to use these and similar animals to breed the next generations
to meet market requirements and, hence, contribute to farm profitability.
The specific challenges faced by the suckler
industry were considered in a series of roadshows which Marks
& Spencer sponsored. These were held across Wales and England
in 1997. Speakers dealt with a wide range of issues from genetic
improvement to finance that were intended to provide producers
with practical advice for improving their enterprises.
Milk and Dairy Products
Welsh milk for the Welsh Marks & Spencer
stores is supplied from Welsh farms and processed in Wales. Vintage
matured cheddar is supplied to Marks & Spencer from a creamery
from the Lleyn peninsular.
New Potatoes
We have developed a business sourcing New Potatoes
from Pembrokeshire during the June to mid-July period. They are
supplied to us by DGM Growers who source from Puffin Potatoes,
a group of 8-10 farmers with whom we have developed this business
over the last 3-4 years. During this time we take around 500 tonnes
of this material, both to sell in our stores and to go to our
processors for prepared product.
CONCLUSION
Marks & Spencer, through a range of initiatives,
continues a commitment to Welsh agriculture. The current difficulties
experienced by the livestock sector need to be met by responsiveness
to the market. Marks & Spencer continues to encounter problems
in finding animals meeting our specifications. The national proportion
of finished beef animals that meet the specifications for muscling
and fatness is low at less than 40 per cent.
The consumer quite rightly demands safe high
quality food; Marks & Spencer has a long-term commitment to
work with producers to provide this. There are ways to build new
business by co-operating along the food production and distribution
chain, to meet the needs of customers. British agriculture is
highly efficient and generally able to compete on price, but the
greatest potential is in achieving the higher standards, better
eating quality, freshness, convenience and reliability, increasingly
demanded by a customer who is trading up continually and wants
better products.
| 
