Ferndale Foods, the supplier controversially delisted by Asda last year, is to include comments on the relationship between suppliers and the major supermarkets in a submission to the Competition Commission.
The company is due to go before the Commission later this month. Company chairman John Bigwood said the way the relationship between manufacturers and retailers was policed was unsatisfactory. But he was hard-pressed to think of a credible solution to problems in the supply chain.
Even if written contracts were compulsory, "that wouldn't stop retailers from threatening to delist suppliers after 12 weeks", he said. The amount of reasonable time for contract termination would have to vary, based partly on the size of supply agreement, he added.
Ferndale Foods, which supplied almost half Asda's own label ready meals, claims Asda gave it 12 weeks to shift its business elsewhere. Its Thamesmead plant had to be closed.
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