Cyprus-Forum.com

[Oracle]

Does anybody else find it perverse that the local (Cyprus) Carrefour imports most of it's meat from France?.

Carrefour are French!

[Xybadog]

Does anybody else find it perverse that the local (Cyprus) Carrefour imports most of it's meat from France?

Before I get shot down in flames let me state that I haven't a clue how it gets here or the rational behind them using it.

Willing to be enlightened though.

Just think it's a massive waste of energy (transportation / refrigeration etc) for a product that could surely be sourced from somewhere closer to home.

I prefer to buy things that are produced locally. Supports the local economy and is kinder on the planet.

Quite simple this one Jim. Carrefour is a French company. They have their own producers in France and can also outsource within their own country at greater discount through existing agreements with producers.

[JimB]

Yep - I understand and appreciate that it's a French company.

My point is that they have huge purchasing power and the ability to work with local producers in any market in which they operate.

If the rational was that they bought the product from France as there was no local equivalent of comparable quality then fair enough.

I get my beef, lamb, pork, chicken etc. from my local butcher. He sources it from the local slaughterhouse. The quality is good.

Are we saying that the local stuff can't compete?

Are they working with the local suppliers to raise the quality or expand the facilities with a long term aim of self sufficiency?

If they're bringing it in from elsewhere then this is lost revenue to the local population.

What's wrong with them sourcing stuff from a closer country?

Surely there's a country(s) closer to here that produces meat.

[Oracle]

Yep - I understand and appreciate that it's a French company.

My point is that they have huge purchasing power and the ability to work with local producers in any market in which they operate.

If the rational was that they bought the product from France as there was no local equivalent of comparable quality then fair enough.

I get my beef, lamb, pork, chicken etc. from my local butcher. He sources it from the local slaughterhouse. The quality is good.

Are we saying that the local stuff can't compete?

Are they working with the local suppliers to raise the quality or expand the facilities with a long term aim of self sufficiency?

If they're bringing it in from elsewhere then this is lost revenue to the local population.

What's wrong with them sourcing stuff from a closer country?

Surely there's a country(s) closer to here that produces meat.

Simple solution .... don't eat meat ...

If you are past your teens .... it serves no benefit and may even be detrimental for your health ...

Meat production in the first place; is one of the worst environmental polluters (clearing trees for pasture, animal waste, methane production not to mention use of antibiotics) as well as resource-heavy.

If you care about your internal and external environment ... don't eat meat!

[JimB]

Yep - I understand and appreciate that it's a French company.

My point is that they have huge purchasing power and the ability to work with local producers in any market in which they operate.

If the rational was that they bought the product from France as there was no local equivalent of comparable quality then fair enough.

I get my beef, lamb, pork, chicken etc. from my local butcher. He sources it from the local slaughterhouse. The quality is good.

Are we saying that the local stuff can't compete?

Are they working with the local suppliers to raise the quality or expand the facilities with a long term aim of self sufficiency?

If they're bringing it in from elsewhere then this is lost revenue to the local population.

What's wrong with them sourcing stuff from a closer country?

Surely there's a country(s) closer to here that produces meat.

Simple solution .... don't eat meat ...

If you are past your teens .... it serves no benefit and may even be detrimental for your health ...

Meat production in the first place; is one of the worst environmental polluters (clearing trees for pasture, animal waste, methane production not to mention use of antibiotics) as well as resource-heavy.

If you care about your internal and external environment ... don't eat meat!

Not sure where I heard it but someone here told me that the Cypriot vegetarian option was chicken ....

Take it you don't partake of the odd sausage or two from time to time

[Oracle]

Yep - I understand and appreciate that it's a French company.

My point is that they have huge purchasing power and the ability to work with local producers in any market in which they operate.

If the rational was that they bought the product from France as there was no local equivalent of comparable quality then fair enough.

I get my beef, lamb, pork, chicken etc. from my local butcher. He sources it from the local slaughterhouse. The quality is good.

Are we saying that the local stuff can't compete?

Are they working with the local suppliers to raise the quality or expand the facilities with a long term aim of self sufficiency?

If they're bringing it in from elsewhere then this is lost revenue to the local population.

What's wrong with them sourcing stuff from a closer country?

Surely there's a country(s) closer to here that produces meat.

Simple solution .... don't eat meat ...

If you are past your teens .... it serves no benefit and may even be detrimental for your health ...

Meat production in the first place; is one of the worst environmental polluters (clearing trees for pasture, animal waste, methane production not to mention use of antibiotics) as well as resource-heavy.

If you care about your internal and external environment ... don't eat meat!

Not sure where I heard it but someone here told me that the Cypriot vegetarian option was chicken ....

Take it you don't partake of the odd sausage or two from time to time

Meat was introduced more heavily into the Cypriot diet because of British and Turkish influence.

And no I don't partake of sausages ... not even vegetarian ... because I don't like tampered or shaped foods, processed to look like something you wouldn't normally put in your mouth to bite, chew and swallow .....

[Xybadog]

Yep - I understand and appreciate that it's a French company.

My point is that they have huge purchasing power and the ability to work with local producers in any market in which they operate.

If the rational was that they bought the product from France as there was no local equivalent of comparable quality then fair enough.

I get my beef, lamb, pork, chicken etc. from my local butcher. He sources it from the local slaughterhouse. The quality is good.

Are we saying that the local stuff can't compete?

Are they working with the local suppliers to raise the quality or expand the facilities with a long term aim of self sufficiency?

If they're bringing it in from elsewhere then this is lost revenue to the local population.

What's wrong with them sourcing stuff from a closer country?

Surely there's a country(s) closer to here that produces meat.

I'm totally with you 100% on this Jim, for 1001 reasons. I really think it's a French thing, and that's what it comes down to. UK supermarket giants who have branches around the world will buy local to that country as much as possible.
But also, why do we import (in the UK) New Zealand lamb, Danish bacon, Dutch pork, "Continental" sauages.
I personally would prefer to support the home producers before I spend my money on imports, regardless of which country I'm in.

BTW Oracle, I couldn't live without meat.

[natureofcyprus]

I am in favour also of buying local, when it makes sense. And probably it makes sense when we are talking about buying beef from Cyprus instead of France.

On the other hand, many cases are not easy to assess. Let's talk bananas. Cyprus produces bananas, which I understand is a rather tropical or subtropical fruit requiring huge quantities of water. Does it make more sense to buy Cyprus bananas (and thus encourage its production) or bananas from a tropical country, which would probably be more economical to the environment and to our pockets (even when one includes shipping costs)?

[JimB]

I am in favour also of buying local, when it makes sense. And probably it makes sense when we are talking about buying beef from Cyprus instead of France.

On the other hand, many cases are not easy to assess. Let's talk bananas. Cyprus produces bananas, which I understand is a rather tropical or subtropical fruit requiring huge quantities of water. Does it make more sense to buy Cyprus bananas (and thus encourage its production) or bananas from a tropical country, which would probably be more economical to the environment and to our pockets (even when one includes shipping costs)?

Interesting point and I see where your going.

I must ask one question though, why did you choose bananas?

The whole banana trade has received some extremely bad press from the WTO, the fairtrade organisation and the world bank. The companies involved in the trade have been accused of forcing the local economy to concentrate all it's production on a single product (i.e. bananas) at the cost of other industries and farming.

Don't quote me but I think it was Geest that was heavily criticised for pulling it's operations out of one country when a natural disaster destroyed the banana crop. The local population had nothing left to fall back on - they couldn't feed themselves as all production had been geared to bananas. Geest was OK - they were insured.

Globalisation in all it's glory.

If we don't support the local food industry then they eventually go broke and sell up or move on.

Then we all end up buying French meat from Carrefour - and the price will go up

[JimB]

I'm totally with you 100% on this Jim, for 1001 reasons. I really think it's a French thing, and that's what it comes down to. UK supermarket giants who have branches around the world will buy local to that country as much as possible.
But also, why do we import (in the UK) New Zealand lamb, Danish bacon, Dutch pork, "Continental" sauages.
I personally would prefer to support the home producers before I spend my money on imports, regardless of which country I'm in.

BTW Oracle, I couldn't live without meat.

Hear hear (to both points)

Support your local economy - buy local!