COLES AND WOOLWORTHS ACCUSED OF COLLUSION

A Royal commission into claims that there is collusion between buyers and anti-competitive activity from Australia’s two biggest supermarkets by the Australian Beef Association has been called for.  A director of the association Athol Economou, said the beef industry’s lack of transparency allowed collusion to flourish, while the large supermarkets’ resistance to a grading system meant Coles and Woolworths, which jointly comprise more than 80 per cent of the market, could keep prices high for beef that was less than premium.

“Every other civilised country in the world has a grading system,” Mr. Economou stated, “But the supermarkets don’t want it here because they don’t want to get into premiums and discounts.

The Association told the A Triple C’s inquiry into grocery pricing in early April 2008, that Australian consumers were paying up to $4 billion more for their beef every year because of the duopoly.  Australian consumers were paying more than twice as much for steak and mince than consumers in America.

In an earlier written submission to the A triple C, the association wrote “saleyard collusion is accepted as normal.  Coles and Woolworths have refused to comment.