Meat product suppliers are concerned: new restrictions will favor one of the retail chains

Another aspect that will change the entire market will be to push buyers from large commercial areas to smaller ones. According to the interlocutors, the advantage will be the Lidl retail chain, which has stores of up to 1,400 square meters. meters and only a few will suffer the limitations.

“Almost all of our stores have an average sales area of ​​about 1,400 square meters. Of course, there are exceptions, such as Vilnius Gedimino Ave. or Kauno Pramonės Street. existing stores, as they are located in larger supermarkets, ”says Lidl’s representative, Valdas Stop, and assured that during the first quarantine, cooperation with small Lithuanian manufacturers was strengthened.

Maxima LT has yet to comment on the situation in detail.

“Currently, our main objective is to find the most optimal solutions to implement the restrictions established in the Government Resolution, so that neither our employees nor customers experience great difficulties”, says Ernesta Dapkienė, Director of the Department of Communication and Image of Lithuania chain Maxima retailer.

Loose supply chains

The processors are not very optimistic.

“It just came to our attention then. The supply chains are organized precisely. We know what we sell to rural stores large and small. If the entire production-logistics chain collapses in large supermarkets, where the largest sales are found. It is This is likely to make it difficult for us to work as suppliers ”, predicts Audrius Kantauskas, CEO of Biovela Group, and predicts that the restriction by squares should be revised, since some chains will keep practically all stores without restrictions, others will restrict them.

Therefore, other providers see potential problems when access to stores is not balanced.

“We are perplexed that the government, when announcing restrictions, does not ask companies what is threatening us. We would have gotten used to the fact that the ban on the sale of food in large stores will inevitably disrupt established logistics and customer flows and result in some food simply being discarded, ”explains Darius Gudačiauskas, Managing Director of Vilnius and Kaišiadorys Poultry Farm immunity reaches 80 percent. and another 130 people line up to receive vaccines.

“If we lose customers, we will freeze the poultry and they will lose between 30 and 40 percent. Their values. This is due to the fact that 20% of the trade large stores contribute 60 percent. Turnover. They are more than 1,500 square meters of commercial space ”, says D. Gudačiauskas, who estimates that the government’s decision will restrict 2/3 of the sales of poultry farms, because the restriction on coming to the store means that the consumer will not use a passport. Search When you get to the door, you will simply go to another smaller store and often not around, because the Lithuanian trade organization has long moved small grocery stores out of the cities.

Fear of import entry into force

“Stores will cut back on quantities and not ship orders. This means overnight orders for the next day just won’t go through and we will have to turn our heads to what to do with thousands of tons of meat. The retail chain has no obligation. to buy one quantity or another. We will not be able to sell elsewhere so quickly. In some points of sale, the shelves will be empty, in others they will be crowded “, explains D. Gudačiauskas about the details of the supply and admits that he has never heard of a case in the world where trade in food products is restricted simply because it has not been vaccinated.

“I have not received an order from Lidl to supply large quantities of products. Their main range is imports. For us, this is a big blow, because as of September 2, we accepted 150 people and started working at the factory in Kaišiadorys in two shifts, thus restoring the pre-pandemic level of production, ”says D. Gudačiauskas.

Biovela is not optimistic either.

Audrius Kantauskas, CEO of Biovela Group, says that if there were a level playing field for everyone, suppliers would not feel any major differences. Entrepreneurs do not hide that they fear that buyers’ habits will change, the changes can be significant.

“Lidl transports a large amount of imported products and we, the locals, would least like the growth of the flow of these products,” says A. Kantauskas.

The same fear is expressed by Egidijus Mackevičius, director of the Lithuanian Meat Processors Association, who says that this will give importers exceptional conditions and speculates that perhaps the government simply did not understand that not only small traders, but practically all one of the largest Lithuanian networks.

The retail chain itself has yet to comment on how the new restrictions will affect business trends.

“Since the first quarantine, we have strengthened cooperation with small Lithuanian producers, we continue it until now and, if possible, we expand it. At the moment we cannot predict how the new requirements will change business and sales trends, clearer trends are likely to be seen in a few weeks, ”said the Lidl V. Stop spokesperson when asked to comment on possible changes. in trade and sales. Logistics.