Supermarket suppliers 'are cannon fodder'

摘要

Insolvencies among food manufacturers have risen sharply over the past year, as competition between supermarkets and discounters has resulted in them being treated "as cannon fodder", claims accountancy firm Moore Stephens. It recorded a 28% rise in the number of food producers going bust in the 12 months to September 2014, reaching a total of 146 compared with 114 last year. Moore Stephens blamed the failures on the supermarket price war, which had led supermarkets to squeeze suppliers in order to cut prices and prop up profits. The rate of food businesses going bust contrasted starkly with the 8% fall in company liquidations across the economy as a whole during the same period.