"Competition in the retail sector is out of kilter"
foodwatch on the special report of the Monopolies Commission
Advertisement
In its published special report, the Monopolies Commission identifies a growing concentration of food retailers, with noticeable consequences for consumers and producers. Dr. Chris Methmann, Managing Director of the consumer organization foodwatch, explains:
"Competition in the food retail sector is out of kilter. Millions of people have to cut back on food, farms are struggling to survive - and Aldi, Rewe & Co. are collecting ever higher margins. When costs rise, the retail chains raise their prices. If costs fall, prices often do not fall to the same extent. The Monopolies Commission is right to call for stricter competition controls - also in order to stop the rapid expansion of private labels and own production facilities. Otherwise, the market power of retail chains will continue to grow at the expense of consumers and producers. But what will help immediately: Zero VAT on fruit, vegetables and pulses to make a balanced diet more affordable. In addition, we finally need more transparency in the pricing of retail chains: an independent price monitoring body for the entire value chain can uncover abuses of power and create fairer conditions between retailers, farmers and consumers."
Symbol image
AI-generated image
Background
Edeka, Rewe, the Schwarz Group (including Lidl) and Aldi now control around 85% of the German food retail market as a result of mergers. In its report, the Monopolies Commission criticizes the fact that the retail chains are increasingly expanding their activities to upstream production stages - via private labels and their own production facilities. This further shifts bargaining power to the detriment of agricultural producers. As a result, the gap between producer and consumer prices is widening and the profit margins for the large retail chains are increasing. Food prices are still rising in Germany. Since 2020, the increase in food and non-alcoholic beverages has amounted to almost 36%.
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
Other news from the department business & finance
