Competition Authority to look at food prices

Coop Competition AuthorityCoop will surpass 1.7 million co-owners in 2018 and there is a record customer dividend, says Communications Manager Harald Kristiansen at Coop. This despite that Kiwi is normally cheaper than Coop Prix. Photo: Coop.

Competition Authority to look at price discrimination

The Ministry of Industry has asked the Norwegian Competition Authority to find out if the major suppliers are conducting price discrimination when selling goods to the grocery chains at different prices.

 

Until 2016, the Norwegian Competition Authority obtained the agreements between the 20 largest suppliers and the grocery chains, but they never used the information to check the prices or the competitive situation, writes Aftenposten.

Now the Ministry has asked the Authority to analyze the agreements and see if they can find the answer to whether the major suppliers, such as Ringnes, Orkla, Tine and Nortura, are discriminating between the grocery giants and thus making it difficult for Coop, Rema and Kolonial.no to compete against the NorgesGruppen’s Kiwi brand.

As it is today, it has been a well-known argument in the industry that the ones who buy the most products also get the lowest price. Kolonial.no started the discussion last autumn when they claimed they pay up to 20 per cent more for the goods they purchase from the suppliers than NorgesGruppen does.

Since the purchase terms are secret, not in the least because of the competition law, no one has as of yet been able to prove that there is a difference.

the Competition Authority will now grab a hold on it. The deadline for the inquiry is set for October 1st.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today