Big Food raises a big question What's wrong with this seemingly honest opinion from Agbiz? "The Agricultural Business Chamber (Agbiz), whose members include major companies in the food value chain such as Monsanto and Tiger Brands, says, although there may be concentration in some parts of the value chain, essentially the South African agri-food system is an open and competitive market." Well it seems they were all in bed together previously for price rigging and collusion in the maize industry!!! From http://ift.tt/2lgqcp7: The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) has today released its new research report titled ‘GM Maize: Lessons For Africa-Cartels, Collusion And Control Of South Africa’s Staple Food’ showing how a select group of companies, including Tiger Brands, Pioneer and Premier Foods who have previously fixed the price of bread and maize meal, commandeer the entire maize value chain and continue to squeeze the poorest South Africans. The ACB has recently shown that the entire maize meal market is saturated with GM maize. The report shows that the South African government, through the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) is the largest investor in Tiger Brands, and that over 50% of the company’s shares are held outside South Africa. Pioneer Foods’ largest shareholder is Zeder, the agribusiness investment arm of PSG Konsult Group, a private financial services company. Premier Foods is 80% owned by private equity firm Braite, listed on the Euro MTF market in Luxembourg but domiciled in Malta, both jurisdictions being notorious tax havens. ‘These ownership patterns have increased the distance between food producers and consumers, and are lucrative avenues for capital accumulation by actors far removed from these firms’ locales.’ Said Mariam Mayet, Director of the ACB. According to Gareth Jones, researcher at the ACB, ‘It appears as if… http://bit.ly/2kKJt59
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