Mark-ups on some dairy products in major supermarket chains exceed 140%, Maya Manolova, chair of the Commission for Consumer Protection (CCP), said as she presented the initial findings of inspections carried out at retail chains and the facts established by inspectors.
The commission began inspections on 2 October to establish the actual selling prices and commercial practices. The checks are being conducted by food category, with the first covering dairy products, fruit and vegetables — the categories most frequently mentioned in consumer complaints.
The price differences reflect changes between October and August.
The inspection found a mark-up of 141% on butter, 133% on white brined cheese, 127% on tomatoes, 106% on yellow cheese (kashkaval), 106% on onions and 99% on yoghurt.
Manolova said the CCP would request information justifying the economic factors behind the price increases. She warned that sanctions would be imposed if the increases could not be justified.
Ignat Arsenov, director of the CCP’s Market Control Directorate, gave a specific example: wholesale cucumber prices had fallen by 14%, while retail prices had risen by 59%.
Manolova added that the CCP had also examined data provided by retail chains on products sold at promotional prices. In these cases, inspectors had found mark-ups of up to 40%, she said.
Food prices and mark-ups have both risen between August and October, which is likely to have increased retailers’ profits as well, the CCP chair commented.
“Food prices in retail chains—this gap between the wholesale and retail prices—is devastating Bulgarian households,” she noted.
The CCP’s inspection also found price differences between stores belonging to the same chain in Sofia and elsewhere in the country.
According to Manolova, the market is distorted and there are anomalies. She described the situation as a disaster for household budgets, adding that such wide gaps between purchase and selling prices were not found anywhere else in Europe and that retail chains did not engage in such practices in other EU countries as they did in Bulgaria.
She said the solution would involve several stages. The first was the retail chains’ support for the “Basket of Care” initiative, which had failed to produce results. In her view, the chains had squandered that opportunity.
The second stage of the solution is presenting the facts. The third was the introduction of a fair price benchmark, due to take effect within days, which would show how far prices charged by the chains deviated from that benchmark, Manolova said.
“The fourth stage is for the CCP to press for sanctions in cases of significant deviation from the fair price benchmark. We have prepared a draft bill and submitted it to MPs,” she added.
Manolova also said the CCP would hold meetings in the coming weeks with businesses that receive the highest number of consumer complaints.
“Our goal is to see results over the next month in food prices, medicines, unfair practices by telecommunications operators and bank charges.”
Regarding inspections into rising fuel prices, Arsenov explained that at 8% of the 50 petrol stations and fuel products inspected, the purchase price did not sufficiently justify the increase in the retail price. This applied mainly to propane-butane, he said. Further inspections were under way, and retailers were being asked to justify the economic factors behind the fuel price increases.
According to Arsenov, the increase for this type of fuel ranged from one to three euro cents per litre, amounting to approximately €2 for a single fill-up.
Maya Manolova assured the public that inspections would also cover prices at fast-food outlets and restaurants, which had risen as well. Complaints had also been received about price increases in the services sector, and checks would follow there too, she said.
Source: BTA
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