Rome, January 14, 2026 — The Italian competition authority has opened a market inquiry into the role of large-scale retail chains in the agri-food supply chain, focusing on how purchasing power and distribution practices may be affecting price formation and the allocation of value between farmers, suppliers, and consumers.
The Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato said the inquiry is prompted by the growing divergence between overall inflation and food price inflation in recent years. According to the national statistics agency ISTAT, food prices rose by 24.9% between October 2021 and October 2025, nearly eight percentage points higher than the increase in the general consumer price index over the same period.
Despite these retail price increases, agricultural producers have frequently reported margin compression or only limited growth in their revenues. The authority said this dynamic may partly reflect the significant imbalance in bargaining power between primary producers and large organised retail chains.
The inquiry will examine the critical segment of the supply chain where distributors and suppliers interact, assessing how purchasing practices influence supplier remuneration and downstream consumer prices. In particular, the authority will analyse the exercise of buyer power by supermarket chains, including through non-corporate forms of aggregation such as purchasing cooperatives, buying groups and so-called “super-centrals”.
The investigation will also look at fees charged to suppliers for access to retail services — including listing fees, shelf placement, promotional activities and the launch of new products — commonly referred to as trade spending. In addition, the authority will assess the growing role of distributor own-brand products, or private labels, and their impact on competition and pricing dynamics.
According to the authority, these practices have competition relevance not only upstream but also downstream, as procurement strategies, service sales to suppliers and private-label sourcing are key competitive tools among supermarket operators and directly influence final consumer prices.
As part of the inquiry, the authority has launched a public consultation. Interested parties may submit observations and contributions by January 31, 2026, to the dedicated email address IC58@agcm.it.
Source: https://www.agcm.it/media/comunicati-stampa/2026/1/IC58
