The call by Richard Ali, CEO of Eblex, for retail prices to be pushed up to cut the consumption of red meat and reduce imports shows how out of touch he is with the needs of consumers and the retailers who service them ('Eat less and slash imports says Eblex', The Grocer, 16 February, p56). He assumes shoppers don't want a choice of the meat products they buy from their local stores and that value no longer forms part of their decision making. He also implies that imported commodity product sold through the multiples is of a lesser quality than its domestic counterpart, suggesting that supermarkets are compromising quality to shift imported volume. Recent projections from the Meat & Livestock Commission indicate a decline in the volume of lamb and beef available for consumption in the UK, even if imports stay at current levels. Forcing retail prices up will only accelerate this downward trend. While making more money is attractive to everyone in the supply chain, there is a point where even consumers with plenty of cash in will walk away if they don't think they are getting value for money - just ask the French wine industry how they've got on in the face of new world imports. Consumers are a difficult lot. They want year-round availability, a wide choice of high-quality products, and all at a competitive price. To deny them any of these demands by restricting what they can and can't have is at best a risky business strategy and at worst a head-in-the-sand approach to the realities of consumer purchasing power.