There were no ultimatums issued or firm commitments on price reductions made at a meeting of the Retail Forum organised by the Department of Enterprise to discuss the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and its impact on grocery prices. While the meeting was described as “open and frank” by Minister of State Neale Richmond, the Opposition said it was a “capitulation” by the Government.
The meeting lasted around 90 minutes with representatives of the retail industry in attendance.
Ahead of it Mr Richmond said he wanted supermarkets to start lowering prices of staples, warning that if not the Government would consider measures aimed at forcing their hands. After the meeting Mr Richmond said he had “received assurances from retailers that, where reductions in input costs filter through to products, consumers will benefit from this”.
He said there had been “broad agreement on the need for [staples] to remain competitive”, and he said there had been a “constructive approach” by forum members.
“This is a capitulation, plain and simple,” said Labour’s enterprise spokesman Ged Nash. “The meeting of the forum promised little and it seems to have delivered even less.”
He noted there had been “no firm commitments” to lower prices, only an empty pledge for the price of basic staples to “remain competitive”. It looked like the Government was given a dressing down by the big supermarket players, not the other way around.”
Louise O’Reilly of Sinn Féin said that while it was welcome that some action on pricing was being taken by Government “I fear that this was little more than a talking shop”. She said that unless there were “clear short deadlines and targets then there will be limited benefits to consumers”.
“The ultimate test will be if prices come down for consumers, but with the lack of urgency from Government then it’s hard to see how this will happen quickly.”
Just ahead of the meeting Tesco announced that it was cutting the price of an 800g loaf of its own-brand bread by 10 cent from 99 cent to 89 cent, with other related products also falling in price. The move was followed by similar announcements from other retailers mirroring what happened last week when own-brand butter fell by 40 cent and when own-brand milk fell by 10 cent days earlier.
Following the Retail Forum meeting Retail Ireland director Arnold Dillon said the sector “fully appreciates the concerns of customers at the high levels of food inflation”, and said members of the umbrella group were “actively working to minimise the impact on consumers of massive EU-wide commodity price increases and this will continue”.
He noted that “specific pricing decisions are a matter for individual retailers, but intense competition in the sector will ensure that consumers benefit from falling commodity prices. This is happening already and will continue.”
Will prices ever come back down?
Consumer Affairs Correspondent Conor Pope explains why there has been so much controversy about how much we're paying for food in supermarkets recently and which way prices are headed after 18 months of inflation. He also looks at two other areas where consumers have been hammered: mortgage interest rates and energy bills. Is there any relief on the horizon?
Meanwhile the State’s competition watchdog has once again played down suggestions it might have a role to play in grocery pricing in the months ahead.
The CCPC has written to the Minister for Enterprise Simon Coveney to say it has found there is no evidence to suggest an emergency or market failure exists in the retail grocery market that would support the introduction of price controls on staple goods. The letter is understood to outline that price controls “clearly have a role in certain circumstances” such as in the context of a monopoly, a natural disaster or other emergencies that makes goods scarce.
However, while it recognised price increases have had a significant impact on consumers it warned that it “has not seen any evidence or analysis to support the suggestion that an emergency or market failure exists in the retail grocery market and that price controls would provide consumer benefits”.
