By ROBERT IRWIN

Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors
vice-president Max Roytenburg warns that chicken
producers will soon suffer if retailers don't get
their way. "Who are you guys working for?" he asked
of Canadian Chicken Marketing Agency (CCMA)
directors during their meeting in Ottawa last
month.
Roytenburg has been complaining for months that the
new production allocation system adapted by the
agency allows processors to manipulate supply and
boost margins while producers and retailers suffer.
"I don't appreciate that very much," an obviously
uncomfortable CCMA chairman Lloyd Sandercock told
Roytenburg.
Squabbles over supply between Canada's producers,
processors and retailers is nothing new for the
industry. Producers hope that the new "bottom up"
approach to supply, adapted by the agency in the
past year, will eliminate some of the earlier
criticism they've faced.
In the past, marketing boards have been blamed for
shorting the market, because they set quotas based
on historical patterns. The new system is based on
anticipated demand.
Roytenburg said the requirements of his members
aren't considered. "We asked for supplies
[increases] of six per cent, we were given 14 per
cent."
Ontario CCMA director Ed Benjamins told Roytenburg
the grocery industry isn't co-operating with the
panels set up to deal with the issue.
Roytenburg maintains his members fear revealing
sensitive information about their businesses if
they participate in the panel discussions. "Our
guys, for competitive reasons, are not prepared to
sit around a table and discuss their plans. You can
respect that, surely," said an irate Roytenburg.
"I've been under the false illusion of course that
people were actually looking for places to have
input," Benjamins said. "Quite often it was people
like yourselves making the allegation that we don't
have a forum for input. Now we're trying to give
you a forum for input and you're saying 'I'm sorry
we're not willing to participate.'"
CCMA general manager Cynthia Currie challenged the
accuracy of demand information which Roytenburg
currently supplies to the agency. She charged that
a significant percentage of the grocery industry
isn't represented in his reports.
Pearl Cooper, a processor from north of Montreal
and a CCMA government appointee, called for
understanding from Roytenburg. She explained that
she and her fellow processors also had to overcome
concerns about confidentiality when the new system
began.
   

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