Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry on Tuesday said it was considering summoning retailers using the Rules of Parliament, after several retailers did not attend a meeting to provide insights on how pricing and mark-ups of poultry products occur in their companies.
Some of the invited retailers, which included Shoprite, Woolworths, Pick n Pay and Spar, instead submitted short written responses to the committee, said committee chairperson Joanmariae Fubbs.
“The committee took a decision to again invite the retailers to a meeting scheduled for May 9, to discuss the challenges facing the industry. Failure to attend may require a summons to be issued,” she said in a statement, noting that which Rule of Parliament to use needed to be decided as “requesting stakeholders’ attendance does not seem to be getting us anywhere”.
The scheduled meeting on Tuesday debated the challenges affecting the poultry industry with presentations made by the European Union (EU) and the Animal Feed Manufacturers Association.
“The absence of the retailers was questioned when the EU inferred that a mark-up of up to 45% on poultry products occurs at retail level,” Fubbs pointed out, adding that: “We expect South Africans to come to Parliament to assist us. It is unacceptable that they are not present at the meeting.”