Among the few businesses to have profited from the coronavirus pandemic there are certainly the supermarkets. In itself, nothing to say: in the new conditions, with restaurants and bars closed, it is normal that millions of people locked up at home concentrate their demand on large-scale distribution (many have started shopping online). Doubt, however, that someone may have taken advantage of the situation, unduly speculating on the prices of food, detergents, disinfectants and gloves.
To have a clearer understanding of price trends and to establish whether and to what extent any increases may be linked to actual cost increases or speculative price increases, the Antitrust – with the General Directorate for Consumer Protection led by Giovanni Calabrò – launched a pre-investigation by sending requests for information to various supermarket chains. The list includes Carrefour Italy, MD, Lidl, Eurospin, Brothers Arena, but also some cooperatives Conad (Conad Sicilia, Conad Nord-Ovest, Pac 2000, Conad Adriatico and Margherita Distribuzione) and Coop (Unicoop Firenze, Unicoop Tirreno, Coop Central Italy, Coop Liguria, Novacoop, Coop Alleanza 3.0, Tatò Paride), as well as various distribution centers belonging to Armhole, Sigma e philanderer.
The Authority intends to acquire "data on the trend of retail sales prices and wholesale purchase prices of basic foodstuffs, detergents, disinfectants and gloves - reads in the press release – in order to identify any phenomena of exploitation of the health emergency based on the increase in these prices".
In detail, the Antitrust's crosshairs are focused on approximately 3.800 points of sale, concentrate especially in the center and south. If we take into consideration only the provinces affected by the measure, the supermarkets suspected of having unduly raised their prices are 85% of the total surveyed by Nielsen.
According to the preliminary analyzes of the Antitrust on Istat data, in March the prices of some food products have risen anomalously in some provinces. The greatest increases were recorded in areas that were not included in "red zones" or in areas affected by particular restrictions on mobility. Also for this reason, the Authority “has decided to cannot exclude that these higher increases are also due to speculative phenomena”, reads the note again.
In fact, concludes the Antitrust, “not all increases appear to be attributable to reasons of a structural nature, such as the greater weight of purchases in neighborhood shops, less competition between outlets due to limitations on consumer mobility, supply tensions caused by the sharp increase in demand for some goods during the lockdown and by production limitations and transport induced by the measures to contain the epidemic".
The pre-investigation launched on large-scale distribution is not the only investigation into the marketing of products in the coronavirus period. The Competition Authority has in fact also placed under observation many internet sites where real ones circulated online scams with sales of products presented as being able to counter the Coronavirus or, for example, with the offer of non-compliant masks to the requirements established by both Italian and European laws.
