Supermarket oligopoly on notice

Australia’s supermarket giants are using their dominance to extract huge profits from farmers and families, a report from Australia’s competition watchdog has found.

Today the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released its interim report into the nation’s major supermarkets, uncovering a worsening pattern of “excessive” prices and market power misuse in the sector.

NSW Farmers Principal Economist Samuel Miller said the findings had come as no surprise, with farmers and families having long suffered at the hands of the nation’s supermarket duopoly.

“Prices are rock bottom at the farm gate, and sky high at the checkout – it’s clear these supermarket superpowers are pushing up profits and leaving farmers and families to foot the bill,” Mr Miller said.

“For years, farmers and families have suffered as our supermarket profits have soared, and there has been a total lack of accountability or penalties for any unconscionable behaviour impacting the supply chain to date.

“Farmers have been unable to speak out for fear of retribution, and families have been left with no choice but to hand over their hard-earned money to this monopoly – and that must stop.”

Mr Miller said farmers had a short window to get perishable agricultural goods – such as fruits and vegetables – to consumers, and supermarkets had often used this fact to pressure farmers into either taking lower prices or leaving food to rot.

As the ACCC continued its investigations, and with legal action underway on a ‘fake discount’ scandal, Mr Miller said tough penalties and expanded powers for the competition watchdog were vital to bring Australia’s grocery giants to account.

“A mandatory, enforceable Food and Grocery Code is a positive step, and will go some of the way to address this culture of unconscionable behaviour we’re seeing within Australian supermarkets, but it’s not the end of the road for competition reform,” Mr Miller said.

“These superpowers are not only reaping huge profits, but they are doing so at farmers and families’ expense.

“We need solutions to increase price transparency, an economy-wide prohibition on unfair trading practices and new divestiture powers to bust apart duopolies in cases of extreme bad behaviour, if we want to sort these superpowers for once and for all.

“We know exactly how our supermarkets have been treating us, and we can’t let them keep pushing us up against the wall – or else more and more Aussie families simply won’t be able to afford to put fresh food on the table every day.” 

Date: Friday, September 27, 2024
Media Contact: Eliza Fessey | 0427 411 220 | [email protected]