Submission to the Senate Select Committee on Supermarket Prices

Instead, the existing structures and tools in place have allowed the development of a concerning level of market concentration and the misuse of market power to the detriment of Australian farmers and farm businesses. [...] The NFF refers the Committee to consider the evidence and recommendations of the NFF Horticulture Council, in their submission to the inquiry. [...] For example, the ACCC received significant reports of concern about the supermarket concentration in the dairy and horticulture industries due to the supermarket's bargaining power and industry-specific supply structures.30 At the time of the PAG Inquiry, the ACCC received fewer concerns from the beef, sheep meat and seafood sectors due to their highly diversified supply channels.31 However, in 20. [...] In the PAG Inquiry, the ACCC considers that there the supermarkets use this concentration to conduct practices during price negotiations that are harmful to market efficiency.39 In the PAG Inquiry, the ACCC outlines a number of examples of the misuse of supermarket market concentration. [...] To support greater uptake and use of these tools, the should recommend the development and promotion of tools and strategies to increase the uptake of price management tools.