Poor countries will be denied up to 170 million pounds this Christmas by supermarkets who fail to pay developing country suppliers a fair price for imported groceries, according to researchers at ActionAid.

The supermarkets’ constant drive for cheaper goods has driven down wages to Dickensian levels, and left many women workers toiling in conditions more suited to Victorian times.

Claire Melamed, head of trade and corporates policy at ActionAid said: “This is meant to be the season of goodwill, but that’s definitely not the case when it comes to the way supermarkets are treating their suppliers.  If supermarkets are to live up to their ethical claims this Christmas they have to start paying fair prices to the people around the world who produce the goods we buy.”

170 million pounds is less than one per cent of supermarkets’ sales during the Christmas period. This sum could provide clean water for over 11 million people or allow 1.5 million people in Africa to buy a year’s worth of drugs to control HIV infection. £170 million could also provide a weeks’ worth of meals for 17 million children in Africa over the festive season.

The Competition Commission recently reported that supermarkets are forcing ‘excessive costs and risks’ onto their suppliers in the ‘provisional findings’ of its inquiry into supermarket power.  Action Aid research shows how this leads to appalling working conditions for the women who pick, process and pack the food we buy. 

Over 32,000 people have joined ActionAid’s campaign calling for the government to establish a supermarkets’ regulator to ensure that the big retailers play fair when they do business in developing countries.