bakery items by 15 per cent and edible oils a whopping 20.3 per cent. In its report the Bureau helpfully reminds us that grocery prices have increased at their fastest rate in more than four decades.
Little wonder the bureau has turned its attention to policy actions for the future. Recommendation No. 1: create a “whole-of-government” strategy to support the emergence of new types of grocery business. That should have been top of mind beginning more than two decades ago when horizontal mergers — tobacco, airlines, energy — became entrenched in the grocery business too.
So now the bureau wants to “encourage” the growth of independents and similarly woo international grocers. We can look to the hotly competitive U.K. market, where German grocery discounters Lidl and Aldi have aggressively and successfully challenged the dominance of established players. In response, Sainsbury’s, the second largest grocery chain in the U.K., entered into merger negotiations with Asda, the No. 3 player, in 2018. But wait: the U.K.
Limiting property controls that allow big grocery players to restrict the leasing of real estate by competing grocers could go some way toward boosting competition.