Cyriel Ruers and Judith Jansen wrote a column in Food&Agribusiness about the increased political attention for differences in supermarket prices between EU countries. Based on a new motion, The Hague tried to urge the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) to actively monitor supermarket prices.
This seems to have its effects. The ACM has announced it will investigate the profit margins of manufacturers and retailers and the price differences with foreign supermarkets. However, according to Cyriel and Judith, food companies need not worry yet: “such an investigation is not automatically a red card”. Previous research shows that these “inexplicable” price differences often have legitimate causes. In any case, it is to be hoped that the ACM will conduct its investigation with the appropriate expertise and without bias.
The entire column can be read here.
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