Competition watchdog investigates supermarket grocery prices
© Piman Khrutmuang/Adobe Stock The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is stepping up its work to establish whether competition failure is playing a part in pushing up grocery prices.
Work by the CMA to look at unit pricing practices by retailers, both online and in store began earlier this year.
No evidence of specific competition concerns in the grocery sector has yet been found , but the CMA wants to determine that weak competition is not impacting prices.
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It will now investigate how competition is working overall in the grocery retail market and identify any product categories that need to be observed further.
Sarah Cardell, CMA chief executive, said the rising cost of living is putting people and businesses under sustained financial pressure and the CMA is determined to do what it can to ensure competition helps contain these pressures as much as possible.
“Grocery and food shopping are essential purchases,” she said. “We recognise that global factors are behind many of the grocery price increases, and we have seen no evidence at this stage of specific competition problems.
“But, given ongoing concerns about high prices, we are stepping up our work in the grocery sector to help ensure competition is working well and people can exercise choice with confidence,” she added.