Government will have better competition for your shopping cart
We all notice that food and other groceries have become more expensive on the wallet. We want to make the most important thing in people’s lives the most important thing in our policy. For groceries is not something we can choose away – it is in the name. It’s something we need every day. And that’s why the price of groceries is something you notice every day.
When the price of fish balls and liver pie has risen over 80 percent, I think most people feel that something is not hanging on, and that feeling I share and the government.
The prices of food and drink have increased more than prices otherwise in society in recent years. Therefore, work to improve competition is high on the government’s agenda. Tough competition is important for consumers to have a good grocery offer.
On Monday, May 19, the Prime Minister and I presented new measures to improve competition in the grocery industry. We have also followed up with meetings with a selection of key grocery players.
Competition is the most important key word here. Part of the problem is the great concentration of power we see in this industry. Because here in the country we have a few large chains that control a lot of the market. And the grocery chain’s control over the value chain is increasing. This is done, among other things, through the use of own brands and control and ownership of wholesalers and manufacturers.
Therefore, the government has, among other things, strengthened the Competition Authority and commissioned them to investigate both the chains’ market shares, their control over different parts of the value chain and the chain’s use of their own brands. This is a key to considering measures needed to improve competition in the grocery industry.
Then there is the consumer power, and the opportunity you and I have to control and get an overview of prices, offers and selection. We should not have restrictions on the consumer’s own control in the store in the form of unclear benefit programs and prices that are difficult to understand. Who didn’t wonder what the pre -price really was when there are so frequent and big price changes, so many offers and overlapping bonus schemes? It ends quickly in total confusion.
Poor competition and unreasonable prices are not something we just accept. Therefore, the government will continue to work continuously to improve competition in the grocery industry.
