In the past few years, posts in which people take pictures have become regular on social networks product prices in Serbian stores, so they compare them with, for example, Germany. Mostly with a comment like: "How much more?", when it turns out that the same product is multiple cheaper in the leading country of the European Union.
The basic foodstuffs in Serbia have long since reached crazy prices in relation to the quality offered - the devil played a joke, so the Government reacted again, this time with an action "Best Price", in which the prices of about 80 foodstuffs have been reduced.
However, if you feel that groceries are more expensive in one market, so you decide to shop somewhere else, you may be making a mistake and only wasting precious time. Because, as it seems, large retail chains also found benefit in the whole situation.
Defendants: Deleuze, Mercator, Univerexport and DIS
The Commission for the Protection of Competition initiated proceedings against Deleuze, Mercator, Univerexport and DIS, due to the suspicion that these trade chains violated competition on the market by concluding a restrictive agreement.
After several months of monitoring price trends for 35 selected products, including milk, yogurt, oil, flour, sugar, eggs, coffee and bananas, the Commission determined that the prices for the observed products are identical in retail chains.
An unannounced inspection was carried out in the premises of these chains, which was also carried out at the Cenoteka company.
They account for more than half of the market
The commission is conducting a sector analysis of the state and conditions of competition on the markets of certain food products in the territory of Serbia in the period from 2018 to 2022. As certain findings caused the need for further and more detailed analysis, the Commission examined the conditions of competition on the retail market for a larger number of food products.
A more detailed analysis was carried out by monitoring selected products from retailers against whom proceedings were initiated, and which, according to publicly available data from financial reports published by the Agency for Economic Registers, make up more than 50 percent of the retail market in the territory of Serbia. The new economy.
Thus, the Commission, during several months of monitoring price trends for 35 selected products, concluded that in the retail chains for the observed products, the prices are identical. After that, the Commission compared the prices of the parties to the proceedings for 45 products during August 2024, with the addition of one more retailer.
Based on all the analyzes conducted, the Commission concluded that the retail market in Serbia achieved value growth in the period from April 2023 to March 2024 with a simultaneous slight decrease in volume and that the price increase in retail sales was almost twice as high as inflationary pressures.
Absence of mutual competitive pressure
In the period of several months of monitoring (April - September 2024), the regular prices of eight products (milk, yogurt, oil, flour, sugar, eggs, coffee and bananas) at all observed retailers were the same or similar, with different procurement conditions.
Also, it was determined that the value of the consumer basket containing 45 selected products differs slightly between the parties in the proceedings, while it is significantly lower in the retail establishment that has the most unfavorable commercial procurement conditions.
Based on everything established, the Commission reasonably assumed that the indicators found on the retail market are the result of the absence of mutual competitive pressure of the observed retailers, that is, that these companies concluded a restrictive agreement from Article 10 of the Law on Protection of Competition.
This was determined especially on the basis of the fact that the only form of price competition for the observed products is completely absent in the conditions of the same regular and even the same promotional prices.
In the statement, the commission stated that in its work, especially for proving secret, prohibited agreements, it has various mechanisms at its disposal, for which a certain degree of confidentiality is necessary.
For this reason, he is not able to publicly announce his possible intentions for action in specific cases, so as not to compromise the procedure.
Serbia like the Netherlands - but only in terms of prices
Although the inflation rate in Serbia is no longer in double digits, it is still the leader in price growth in the region - according to Eurostat data, inflation in Serbia in August was 4,4 percent, more than any other country in the Western Balkans.
Their data also show that the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages in Serbia in 2023 were at 96 percent of the European Union (EU) average, which, as they state, "shows the convergence of the EU."
"The convergence process of the EU seems to be working best in this area. In 2020, before the start of the wave of inflation that swept Serbia and Europe, food prices in Serbia were 20 percent below the EU average," he writes. Today.
As pointed out in the Eurostat report, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe had cheaper food than Serbia, such as Poles who paid 22,5 percent less for food and drinks than the EU average, Bulgarians 11,7 percent less than the average, and the cheapest food last year in the EU, Romanians had, with prices at the level of 73,5 percent of the EU average.
In Montenegro, food prices were 87 percent of the EU average, in North Macedonia they were around 68 percent of the average, and the cheapest food in Turkey was 36 percent below the EU average, while food in the Netherlands was slightly more expensive than in Serbia.
However, although the price of products in Serbia follows EU price trends, the average salary in Serbia is twice as low.
According to Eurostat data, the average net salary in the EU in 2020 was around 1.140 euros, and in Serbia it was 510 euros or almost 45 percent of the EU average, while in 2023 the average salary in the EU increased to around 1.367 euros, and in Serbia to 733 euros, that is, it "jumped" to 53,6 percent of the average salary in the EU.
Sources: New Economy/Today
