Pound shop sells Polos imported from Indonesia - when British factory is ONE MILE up the road

By Chris Brooke for the Daily Mail
Updated: 04:12 EDT, 2 September 2010

Shoppers buying Polo mints at a discount store in York might expect them to have come from the factory just a mile up the road.

In fact, they have travelled a good deal further - 7,300 miles from Indonesia.

The sweets are being sourced from a factory in South-East Asia because they are available at a cheaper price than the identical product made in the Nestle plant in York.

The Nestle Factory in York where the famous Polo mints were invented

Environmentalists are furious about the 'coals to Newcastle' type deal and have called for British retailers to take into account the 'carbon cost' or 'footprint' caused by transporting products across the world to save money.

Discount chain Poundworld justified the bizarre import deal by saying it gives customers better value for money.

Polos are more than three times more expensive in other York stores, where the mints originate from the city's own factory.

Poundworld find it cheaper to sell Polos shipped from Indonesia

The discount store sells multipacks of eight rolls of 18 Polos for £1, which equates to just under 0.7p per mint.

While a typical shop sells UK-made Polos in tubes of 20 for 49p or 2.45p per Polo. It is not clear whether the sweets are sent from Indonesia by plane, which would involve a 15-hour flight, or put on a slower cargo ship.

But Poundworld claims it is down to the wholesaler and not them.

A spokesman said customers expected 'exceptional value for money' and the firm could not offer as good value if it bought UK made products.

The spokesman added that the Polos were bought from a UK wholesaler, so Poundworld itself was not involved in transporting the sweets from the Far East.

A Nestle spokesman said: 'Unfortunately, it is out of our control if retailers import items via the grey market that were never designed for the UK. The Polos made in York are for the UK market.

'We would never bring Polos from Asia to sell in Poundworld. Providing they are acting legally there is not much we can do.'

The Polos are being sourced from a factory in South-East Asia because they are available at a cheaper price than the identical product made in the Nestle plant in York

Andy D'Agorne, leader of the Green Party group on City of York Council, said: 'It's part of the nonsense of the global economy. We are keen to promote local food and the reduction of food miles is very much what we are about.

'This typifies the needless international transportation of food. People are becoming more aware of things like carbon footprints.'

Criticising the excuse that the cost is lower, he added: 'It's cheaper on the basis of the current economic system that takes no account of the environmental impact. If the true environmental impact was taken into account they would be far more expensive.'

The example is far from unique. Supermarkets buy many products from across the world which are also made at home in order to save money.

Last year farmers complained that their bumper plum harvest was left to rot on trees because British retailers were buying cheaper foreign fruit instead.

On Monday the Daily Mail told how Ginsters pasties went on a 260-mile round trip to a distribution centre near Bristol before being sent to a Tesco store next to the factory where they were produced in Callington, Cornwall.