Food inflation claims misleading: ANRA
The claims that major supermarkets are forcing up the price of food are extremely misleading, claims Australian National Retailers Assosciation CEO Margy Osmond.
With latest OECD data revealing Australia’s food prices had risen by more than 40 percent in the past decade, competition lawyer, Professor Frank Zumbo says Australia has some of the fastest-rising food prices in the developed world, and food inflation should be squarely blamed on the lack of competition between Australia’s two major supermarket retailers, Coles and Woolwortths.
“I have no doubt that it is the duopoly at play. The reality is we in Australia have one of the most highest concentrated supermarket sectors in the world,” he said.
However, Osmond has refuted these claims, believing that there are a range of factors influencing food prices in Australia, and that supermarkets have been operating on very modest margins and between three and five percent.
“Inflation has forced up the costs of a range of products and services, including health care, rent, education, fuel and other everyday items. Food is not immune from inflation changes,” she said.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Graeme Samuel said that issues such as drought and other agricultural reforms are contributing to food price inflation, and not the supermarkets.
The ACCC’s inquiry into grocery prices last year found that there are a range of factors including food prices in Australia, including international demand for commodities and domestic shocks like droughts and floods.
The claims that major supermarkets are forcing up the price of food are extremely misleading, says Australian National Retailers Association CEO Margy Osmond.
With latest OECD data revealing Australia’s food prices have risen by more than 40 percent in the past decade, competition lawyer, Professor Frank Zumbo says Australia has some of the fastest-rising food prices in the developed world, and food inflation should be squarely blamed on the lack of competition between Australia’s two major supermarket retailers, Coles and Woolworths.
“I have no doubt that it is the duopoly at play. The reality is we in Australia have one of the most highest concentrated supermarket sectors in the world,” he said.
However, Osmond has refuted these claims, believing that there are a range of factors influencing food prices in Australia, and that supermarkets have been operating on very modest margins of between three and five percent.
“Inflation has forced up the costs of a range of products and services, including health care, rent, education, fuel and other everyday items. Food is not immune from inflation changes,” she said.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Graeme Samuel said that issues such as drought and other agricultural reforms are contributing to food price inflation, and not the supermarkets.
The ACCC’s inquiry into grocery prices last year found that there are a range of factors influencing food prices in Australia, including international demand for commodities and domestic shocks like droughts and floods.
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