AGRICULTURAL NEWS - Retailers are using the drought to pull the wool over your eyes over sky-high meat prices.
This is according to Eastern Cape farmer Richard Armstrong, who used social media to warn shoppers that retailers were ripping them off when the producer price of lamb had, in fact, gone down two weeks ago.
In his post, which has been shared on Facebook and Twitter several thousand times, Armstrong said the producer price has dropped from R72/kg in February to R51/kg.
"That is a whopping 29.1%. These prices were last seen 26 months ago. Question the retailers the next time you buy your chops; they are ripping you off badly.
"That is a whopping 29.1%. These prices were last seen 26 months ago. Question the retailers the next time you buy your chops; they are ripping you off badly.
To top it off, certain retailers even put up signs in their stores apologising for the prices and the quality and blame the drought.
What bull!" According to a response to his post, one retailer charged as much as R199/kg for lamb.
The chief executive of the Red Meat Producers' Organisation, Gerhard Schutte, said Armstrong's post was "absolutely 100% correct".
The chief executive of the Red Meat Producers' Organisation, Gerhard Schutte, said Armstrong's post was "absolutely 100% correct".
"Studies by the University of the Free State found that if the producer price goes up, the consumer price goes up. If the producer price goes down, the consumer price goes down - but there is a time lag.
