Italian Anti-trust Regulator To Probe Large Grocers’ Buying Power

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Italy’s title authority is to analyse nan purchasing powerfulness of nan country’s ample retailers.

In a connection yesterday (14 January), nan Autorita’ Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) said it had launched nan probe “in position of nan widening spread betwixt wide ostentation and nutrient value ostentation recorded successful caller years”.

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Citing information from nan Italian National Institute of Statistics, nan AGCM said nutrient prices accrued 24.9% betwixt October 2021 and October 2025. It said nan complaint was astir 8 percent points much than nan 17.3% summation recorded successful nan aforesaid timeframe by nan wide user value scale successful Italy.

The group besides said regular reports from cultivation producers of “squeezed margins” aliases “insufficient separator growth” could beryllium “partly owed to nan beardown imbalance successful bargaining powerfulness betwixt farmers and awesome large-scale unit chains”.

“In nan agri-food proviso chain, nan trading shape betwixt last distributors and suppliers plays a pivotal role, arsenic it affects some nan level of remuneration of suppliers – and, arsenic a result, nan profitability of upstream accumulation activities – and user value trends,” nan antitrust regulator said.

Speaking to Italian news agency Askanews, Carlo Alberto Buttarelli, nan president of waste and acquisition relation Federdistribuzione, said retailers had acted arsenic a “barrier to inflation” during a play erstwhile prices “spiked”.

Through its probe, nan AGCM will measure really large-scale unit chains workout their buying power, “including done non-corporate aggregation arrangements”, specified arsenic buying groups, “super-buying groups” and cooperatives.

The investigation will besides look astatine really ample retailers mightiness wield their buying powerfulness done fees charged to suppliers for services for illustration listings, merchandise launches, and promotions.

It besides intends to analyse “the expanding importance” of private-label.

Major unit chains successful Italy see Esselunga, Coop, Carrefour and Lidl. The AGCM did not disclose which circumstantial retailers would beryllium included successful its investigation.

Stakeholders person been asked to taxable feedback to nan title authority by nan extremity of this month.

“We person often been unsocial successful combating value increases, trying to limit nan transmission of these increases to user prices, and we will reiterate this to nan authority,” Buttarelli told Askanews. “We received nan anti-trust authority’s accusation connected this fact-finding investigation earlier Christmas and we will respond without hesitation based connected each nan grounds presented.”

Buying groups person travel nether scrutiny from title authorities elsewhere successful Europe this year.

Last week, nan French title watchdog announced a reappraisal of nan Aura and Concordis buying alliances.

L’Autorité de la Concurrence said it will activity to found whether nan alliances bring immoderate harm to competition, including upstream and downstream, and from a user viewpoint.

Aura was nan first of nan 2 alliances to beryllium launched, featuring French grocers Intermarché, Auchan and Casino. They formed nan purchasing practice statement successful 2024 for branded and private-label user goods.

Last year, Aura besides joined nan wider European purchasing groups Everest and Epic Partners. Edeka, Picnic and Système U are portion of nan erstwhile while Esselunga and Migros characteristic successful nan latter.

Concordis was initially launched past year for branded products betwixt France’s Carrefour and Coopérative U, pinch Germany’s confederation group RTG International joining successful August. It is owed to get disconnected nan crushed this year.