Organic food and drink manufacturers who operate dual pricing policies with independents and multiples are indulging in an "unfair, dangerous strategy" according to a leading organics retailer. Bryan Meehan, chief executive of six-store London organics chain Fresh & Wild, speaking at the Retailing in the Real World seminar at the Natural Products Show at London's Olympia, said:"Manufacturers are selling at one price to the independent stores and another to the multiples. "Key value items are given a major differential, and I appeal to suppliers to rethink their strategies." Meehan warned that his firm would not hesitate to delist products which were being undersold by the multiples. "The major supermarkets have done a brilliant job to develop the sale of organics. But while we want to see the overall market grow, this practice is unfair." More than 400 suppliers took part in the two-day show, many reporting a "definite consumer swing" towards organics since the FMD crisis. Several exhibitors told The Grocer the images of animal pyres on TV had shocked the public and they saw an opportunity to win many new converts to the organics cause. Suppliers of organic food and drink from Germany are seeking a bigger share of the UK retail market. Kurt Bettin, director of the UK arm of CMA, Germany's central marketing organisation for food and drink, predicted his country's suppliers would win even more business in the UK. With 414,507 hectares, Germany has the third largest certified organic and in-conversion land area in Europe after Italy and the UK. {{NEWS }}

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