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| Roberto Rustichelli, President of the Italian Competition Authority (Antitrust) |
ROME – The Antitrust Authority launches an inquiry into Large-Scale Retail over food prices, bargaining power, and the agri-food supply chain. Contributions by 31 January 2026. The Italian Competition and Market Authority (AGCM) has launched a sector inquiry into Large-Scale Retail (GDO) and the agri-food supply chain. The Authority's activity will focus specifically on the role played by retail chains in the distribution of added value along the agri-food chain and in the formation of final prices.
Rising food inflation and the gap with consumer prices
The Authority has initiated a fact-finding inquiry into the role played by Large-Scale Retail within the agri-food chain, also drawing inspiration from the sharp divergence that has emerged in recent years between general inflation and food inflation. Specifically, based on Istat data, between October 2021 and October 2025, food prices recorded an increase of 24.9%, nearly 8 percentage points higher than the 17.3% increase recorded by the general consumer price index over the same period. In the face of these consumer price increases, agricultural producers frequently complain of a compression or, at the very least, an inadequate growth of their margins, which could be partly attributable to the significant imbalance in bargaining power held by farmers compared to the major chains of large-scale retail.
Critical dynamics in the agri-food supply chain
Within the agri-food chain, the link represented by the exchange phase between final distributors and suppliers constitutes a crucial junction, both for determining the level of remuneration for suppliers – and, consequently, the profitability of upstream production activities – and for defining the trend of consumer prices.
Investigation into purchasing power and trade spending
In this context, the Antitrust inquiry intends to investigate, among other things, the methods by which purchasing power is exercised by retail chains, including through various forms of non-corporate aggregation (cooperatives, central and super-central buying groups); the requests made to suppliers by retail chains for payments related to the purchase of sales services (such as listing fees, shelf placement methods, promotions, new product launches, or so-called "trade spending"); and the growing significance of the impact of distributor-branded products (so-called "Private Labels").
Strategic competition and private labels
Issues related to the exercise of purchasing power by retail chains are also of competitive importance because the management of purchases and the sale of services to suppliers, as well as the sourcing and positioning of Private Label products, represent an important strategic lever for downstream competition among retail operators and directly affect final price formation dynamics. The Authority has launched a public consultation on the issues detailed in the inquiry’s opening resolution: interested parties may submit contributions by 31 January 2026 to the e-mail address IC58@agcm.it.
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