Swedes buy fewer and cheaper products. According to the industry organization Swedish Groceries annual figures for 2022, consumers gravitated towards dairy, eggs and coffee, among other things.
A personal financial emergency measure in inflationary times that worries LRF chairman Palle Borgström.
— Sweden’s farmers have for a long time built added value in Swedish products – with low antibiotic use, high animal care, great consideration for the environment and climate-smart production, he says and emphasizes:
— These are values that Swedish consumers hold dear.
Risk of missed investments
According to Palle Borgström, a hunt for low prices that is cheered on by politicians can cost us dearly in the long run.
— The short-term perspective affects our long-term work, just to fight a temporary inflation bubble. The investments that Swedish farmers are facing to reduce the climate impact risk not happening if times get tougher for them.
He emphasizes that LRF understands the strained situation.
— We understand that many consumers are finding it difficult to get enough money now.
The price reductions in stores recently announced by Ica, Coop and Lidl mean yet another dilemma for Swedish farmers, says Palle Borgström.
— In order to finance the price reductions, there is a risk of putting pressure on the suppliers, which leads to falling prices for the farmers.
“Too many rules to follow”
Recently, Arla also announced that the compensation to the dairy farmers will be further reduced. According to the dairy giant, the farmers cannot be paid more than what the market is prepared to pay for the milk.
However, it is unclear if, and when, the price to consumers will follow the reduced milk price to farmers.
— Our price to the farmers is connected to the price in stores, but not all at once, says Max Wallenberg, press manager at Arla Sweden, to TT.
From a political perspective, Palle Borgström wants to see measures that remove costs from the food chain.
— In 1996, a Swedish dairy farmer had 278 rules to follow, today there are 654 laws and rules to follow, he says and believes that Sweden in many cases over-implements EU legislation in these matters.